2 rOOTE : GEOLOGY OF MADUEA AND TINNEVELLY DISTRICTS. 



British territory. The first of these is the Varshanad ridge which 

 extends into the Andipatti and Nagamalai hills, which latter die away 

 in the plain a little to the west of Madui'a town. The second spnr to 

 be noted is the nameless mountain mass projecting- into the Kambam 

 valley and dividing the headwaters of the Suruli or Shurley-ar from 

 those of the Vaigai (Vygay).^ 



The "Varshanad spur branches off from the high Puluvurangan or 

 Varshanad spur. Kotay peak (6,617'), and throws off three subsi- 



Subsidiary spurs. ^j^ry spurs to the eastward— the Pemalai (5,575'), 



west-north-west of Srivilliputur (Shevilputur) ; the Saddragiri (4,172'), 

 some 15 miles to the north-east-by-north; and the Kudirai Malai 

 (4,262'), further 15 miles to the northward of the last named spur. 

 These side spurs are higher than many parts of the main spur. 



To the north of the Vaigai river a small number of detached hill 

 masses extend eastward from the Dindigul valley 



Outlying bills. 



and may be regarded geologically as an extension 



of the gneissic beds forming the Palani mountains. The principal of 

 these masses are the Sirumalai (4,454'), the Karuntha Malai, the 

 Waggut Malai, the Alagiri, the Nattam hills, and the Pra Malai, — 

 a group of hills remarkable chiefly for their terribly feverish and un- 

 healthy climate. 



Of the outlying hills to the south of the Vaigai. The most important 

 are the Parayur hills in Tirumangulam Taluq (Madura). Further south 

 in Tinnevelly district, the Periur hill (1,378') near Sankaranainar Koil, 

 the Vallanad hills (1,023') east of Palamcotta and, in Nanguneri Taluq, 

 the very conspicuous Suttu-pottai, a remarkable bare-topped rocky cone, 

 some 1,200' or 1,500' high. The other hills shown in the Atlas sheets 

 62 and 63 are mostly mere low narrow rocky ridges of trifling import- 

 ance topographically, and of but little more importance geologically 

 considered. 



' This mountain spur is shown in the Atlas sheet (No. 62) as a "high waving monn- 

 tain overrun with an impenetrable forest," whicli t'i)rms a very marked contrast to the very 

 thin forest which covers the ridges and slopes of the Varshanad spur. 



( ^ ) 



