262 NERBUDDA DISTRICT. 



It is a straight line ; it is of sufficient length ; it is unequivocally the 

 line of a fault or fissure ; and it is a geological boundary, absolute and 

 definite throughout its course. 



"We may then take the line of the Vindhyan escarpment with great 

 confidence for comparison with the 20 European systems of De Beaut- 

 mont. We fix a great circle of reference, transfer its direction to a 

 European equivalent, and attain an approximation to one of the Euro- 

 pean range systems, sufficiently close to suggest an age, according to 

 the theory, for the great Vindhyan fault. The approximation is, at all 

 events, as close as many included in the calculations on which these 

 20 European systems are themselves based. 



But we have now to recall attention to our second great range line, 

 that of the Mahadeva fault range. It also is sharply traced, is a straight 

 line, is of considerable length, is certainly a fault line, and unmistake- 

 ably a geological boundary : besides, it lies so close to the line of the 

 Vindhyan fault, that their relative directions may best be appreciated 

 by considering them as lines on a plain surface. 



We have been attempting to fix an age for the Vindhyan fault by 

 referring it to the direction of some fault line in Europe, taken as 

 a standard of reference, and whose parallelism is supposed to prove 

 synchronous origin ; while we have before us this line of the Mahadeva 

 fault, parallel to it, close to it, and demonstrably separated from it by 

 a geological era : it is palpable that our confidence in the result of the 

 reference to M. de Beaumont's European range systems is destroyed by 

 these considerations. Our attempt to arrive at the position in the geological 

 scale of chronology of a fault line in Asia, by the processes above 

 detailed, may be considered an illegitimate application of the theory: 

 or our estimates of the true directions of the Vindhyan and Mahadeva 

 fault lines, may not be sufficiently exact to warrant us in stating that 

 their parallelism is as satisfactorily made out as is the relative direc- 

 tions of some of M. de Beaumont's European systems ; moreover, that 



