• GNEISSIC ROCKS. 29 



this often very beautiful rock are to be seen in the low hills west 

 of Kalligudi Chuttrum Railway Station again to the north-east and 

 east of Satur and in the Waddakarai hill south of that town (see 

 pag-e 23) . At the first and last of these localities the rock can be seen 

 to great advantage as extensive quarries have exposed considerable 

 surfaces of unweathered gneiss. The distinctness of the banding and the 

 bright colours of the rock — white, grey, and pink — produce an effect 

 which is very pleasing to the eye. 



Of the outcrops of gneiss in the south of Tinnevelly not very 

 Gneissic outcrops in oauch can be Said, for except close in to the moun- 

 South Tinnevelly, tains they are neither numerous nor important. 



By far the greater number show beds of well-banded quartzo-f el spathic 

 gneiss, abounding in small red or pink garnets, of the Cape Comorin 

 type in fact, the strike being west-north-west to east-south-east. They 

 form part of several synclinal and anticlinal foldings whose westerly ex- 

 tensions may be traced in the Ghats, while their eastern extensions dis- 

 appear under the bi'oad band of more recent rocks which fringes the south- 

 eastern littoral. Many of the larger outcrops may be correlated with the 

 great synclinal ellipse embracing the southern half of Tiavancore and 

 Great synclinal ellipse having its eastern focus in or near the Mahendra- 

 of Mahendragiri. ^—^ ^^^ ^^^^ southerly of the great peaks of the 



Southern Ghats, a noble mountain attaining a height of 5,419 feet. 



The most noteworthy of the outcrops are the following : — [a] The 



Singikulam (Shingacolum) Pottai, a low but 

 Singikulam outcrop, 



boldly rocky ridge of typical granite gneiss 10 



miles south-south-west of Palamcotta. Its western extension crosses the 



Pachiyar (Puchaur) and forms some considerable rocky hills which 



appear to be connected with the beautiful Kolunduma Malai, one of 



the finest isolated masses in Tinnevelly district. The bedded structure 



of the gneiss on a great scale is admirably displayed in that fine 



hill which rises high over the surrounding country. A number of 



picturesque rocks and low bare hills of granite gneiss diversify the 



country some miles south-west and south of the Singikulam ridge, 



"( 29 ) 



