JIOLIAN FORMATIONS. 91 



touches the Taruvai lake. Beyond that it narrows considerably, and 

 to the north-eastward of Sittankudi sinks down into the red sand 

 plain. This sand plain, however, consists equally of the red sand and 

 covers a large area on either side of the Karameni-ar as shown in 

 the map. 



The elevation of the eastern part of the Iddayang-udi teri is con- 

 siderable, probably not less than 150 to 180 feet above sea level. How 

 much of this is absolute sand is hard to estimate, but it seems likely 

 that it is in part underlaid by a ridge of marine grits like the Kudung 

 Kulam plateaus, a view which is supported by the fact that an outcrop 

 of limestone was noted about a mile and a quarter east of the Nambiar 

 end of the teri, and at a considerable level (50 or 60 feet) above the 

 alluvial plain to the north. 



The fact that the Taruvai lake is due to the natural dam formed by 



the sands of the teri which surround it on three 

 The Taruvai lake. 



sides has already been adverted to (page 5). The 



view across this lake from the high teri to the south-east of it is a 

 very remarkable one and possibly unique. I came upon it suddenly 

 when crossing the teri northward from the coast between Elanqune and 

 Talai (Periatulla) early in the morning of a beautifully clear day in 

 April 1881, and bitterly regretted I had no sketching materials with 

 me. The immediate foreground consisted of a long slope of pure red 

 sand studded with a few palmyras and banyan trees, and stretching down 

 to the blue and silvery surface of the lake which was framed to the 

 north and west by the rich and varied greens of the great forest of palm 

 trees so eminently characteristic of south-eastern Tinnevelly. The 

 south side of the lake was formed by the continuation of the red sand 

 slope broken here and there by clumps of palmyras and small banyan 

 trees which seem to thrive very fairly in the sands. In the mid-dis- 

 tance rose above the palm forest a line of high red sand hills, the Itta- 

 moli or Sathan Kulam teri, then a widespread plain also densely 

 covered with palm forest stretching away 20 miles to the foot of the 

 mountains, of which a glorious chain stood up blue and sharply cut with 



( 91 ) 



