Lieut. -Colonel Sykes on a portion ofDukhun. 417 



vertical or highly inclined. General Hard wick has published a lithographic sketch of them*. I 

 have already stated that Dr. Voysey found columnar basalt in many places in the Gawelghur 

 range. 



Schistose Structure. 

 Following the preceding formation, I may mention, that in some few places 

 a schistose structure was met with ; but its extent was limited to a few yards, 

 the lamellae were vertical, from an inch to three inches in thickness, being 

 perfect tables, with parallel bounding planes. The rock in which this struc- 

 ture occurs, is a simple, indurated, gray clay, which flies into fragments under 

 slight blows from the hammer. At Dytneh near Serroor some very perfect 

 specimens have led the inhabitants to connect mystic influences with so arti- 

 ficial a development of inorganic matter. The spot is daubed with oil and 

 red lead, and venerated. 



Basalt en boules. 



Another characteristic feature is the general diff"usion of those rounded or 

 oval masses of compact basalt, with concentric layers like the coats of an 

 onion, which the French geologists denominate " Basalt en boules ", and 

 ourselves, nodular basalt. 



These concretions are usually found at the base of hills, buried in the debris from the decom- 

 posing strata; but in the Konkun, between Choke and Campolee, (the latter at the foot of the 

 Bore Ghat,) two villages on the high road between Bombay and Poona, I met with them lying on 

 the surface over a considerable area. They occur in a similar manner on the table-land of the 

 ball-practice hill at Poona. At Koothool (already mentioned), in the slope of the hill, and in the 

 debris at its base, and along the edge of the table-land near Paubul, they are abundant ; but the 

 finest specimens are seen near the village of Karkullah, thirty miles north-west of Poona, associated 

 with horizontal basaltic columns. The hill has been cut away, to form the great military road. 

 In making the escarpment the balls were met with, and it being impossible to cut through the 

 nuclei in vertical sections, it was either necessary to leave them projecting or to remove them 

 altogether: in the latter case cavities remained equal to the hemispheres of the nuclei; and the 

 vertical sections display from ten to fifteen concentric layers of friable gray stone, which in some 

 instances T have found to affect the needle. I compared specimens of the nuclei ; with a mass 

 brought by me from the Solfatara at Naples, and found them quite similar in aspect, colour, 

 hardness, and great weight. This formation excited the attention of those gentlemen who have 

 visited the northern and eastern parts of the great trap region f; but Dr. Voysey was quite mis- 



* Malcolm's Central India, Appendix, p. 32S, 



•f- Dr. Voysey says, " The nodular wacken or basalt is one of the most common forms of trap 

 " in the extensive districts composed of the rocks of the family south of the Nermada (Nerbuddah) 

 " river. It occurs perpetually in the extensive and lofty range of mountains, (the Gawalghur) 

 " situated between the Puma and Tapti rivers, and appears to form their principal mass. It is 

 " found equally abundant throughout the wholeof Berar, part of the provinces of Hyderabad, Beder 

 " and Sholapoor, and appears to form the basis of the great western range of trap hills which separate 

 " the Konkun from the interior of the Dukhun." — Physical Class, Asiatic Researches, pp. 126, 1S9. 



