424 



Lieut.-Colonel Sykes on a portion of Dukhun. 



buildings fall to ruin ; such is the case with the great temple in Hurree- 

 chundurghur. 



I must not omit mention of two remarkable rocks which^ as far as my 

 reading extends^ have not been noticed by authors on European geology. 

 The first is an amygdaloid in which compact stilbite is imbedded in a ver- 

 micular form. One of its localities is the insulated hill on which stands the 

 temple of Parwuttee in the city of Poona* ; and it is met with in many other 

 places. Captain Dangerfield observed the same peculiar stratum near 

 Sagar. He says^ " There occurs an amygdaloidal or porphyritic rock con- 

 " sisting of a compact basis of wacke, in which are imbedded in great abun- 

 " dance small globular or uniform masses, but more usually long curved cy- 

 " lindrical or vermiform crystals of zeolite f." 



The other rock occurs as a thick stratum of amygdaloid at the elevation of 

 4000 feetj in the hill forts of Hurreechundurghur and Poorundhur; and in 

 the bed of the Goreh river at liOO feet, near Serroor. The matrix resem- 

 bles that of the other amygdaloids, but the mineral imbedded is a glassy 

 felspar in tables resembling Cleavelandite, crossing each other at various 

 angles, and so abundant as to occupy a moiety of the mass. I have only 

 remarked it in the above localities, and it does not appear to have come 

 under the notice of the gentlemen I have so often quoted in other parts 



of the peninsula. 



Minerals. 



Minerals are not uniformly dispersed in Dukhun. In one part quartz pre- 

 dominates, in another chalcedony ; and these are more or less associated with 

 jaspers, agates, hornstones, heliotrope, and semi-opal or cachalong. In other 

 places particular members of the zeolite family prevail, nearly to the exclusion 

 of the siliceous class ; and elsewhere there is a diminution of minerals amount- 

 ing almost to privation. Amethyst quartz is rare in Dukhun ; when met with 

 it constitutes the crystal, lining the interior of geodes of agate. 1 have not 

 seen it in veins. Pseudomorphous quartz is common ; the most frequent 

 impression is that of rhomb spar. Lime occurs only in three crystalline 

 forms : rhomb, dog-tooth, and the dodecahedron. The first is found on the 

 surface, and imbedded in masses of quartz and compact mesotype ; the two 

 latter forms are associated with ichthyophthalmite in cavities in the amygdaloid 

 strata ;};. 



* See Plate XXVIII. fig. 2., near to the city of Poona. 

 t Central India, p. 328. 



X That comparatively rare European mineral, ichthyophthalmite, is most abundant and of great 

 beauty in the neighbourhood of Poona. 



