L\eui.-Co\onel Syk^s on a portion of Dukhun. 425 



The following are a few of the mineral localities : 



At Kothool, south of Ahmednuggur, the numerous quartz and chalcedony veins cover the 

 country with agates, colourless quartz-crystals, and chalcedony ; some of the specimens are fully 

 a foot thick, including both walls of the vein. Here are met with some few crystals of calca- 

 reous spar inclosed in quartz. At Ahmednuggur, to the above siliceous minerals, some members 

 of the zeolite family are to be added, principally stilbite. A t Nandoor, on the plain of the Goda- 

 very river, the zeolites disappear, and the siliceous minerals are limited in number. On the con- 

 trary, at Jamgaon, eighteen miles west of Ahmednuggur, on the upper terrace or plateau, in ad- 

 dition to all the minerals enumerated, bits of yellow and red jasper and heliotrope occur. As- 

 cending the Mool river from Nandoor, at Aklapoor, great masses of mesotype, with radii several 

 inches long, are found imbedded in friable amygdaloid. North of Aklapoor, at Gorgaon, a new 

 mineral occurs in a mass two feet in diameter. Its depth I do not know, as it lay partly buried in 

 the amygdaloid bed of the river : its colour green, and breaking into rhombs. Gorgaon is the 

 only locality known to me of this mineral. Its measurements are those of calcareous spar, but the 

 specific gravity is less. It is stated to be coloured by green earth. It is interesting from being 

 unknown in the cabinets in England. 



A few miles further up the Mool river, at the village of Chas, in the shoulder of a hill formed 

 of numerous thin horizontal beds of decomposing amygdaloid, many specimens of cloudy calca- 

 reous spar, imbedded in stilbite, are found, and the siliceous minerals are rare. Ascending to the 

 source of the river the same scarcity prevails. Three miles south-south-west of Chas, at Brah- 

 munwareh, great masses of stilbite, of the radiating foliate kind, are imbedded in hard amygdaloid. 

 In the hill fort of Hurreechundurghur, although siliceous minerals are not abundant, crystallized 

 quartz of various colours is seen, a feature not characterizing the Desh or open country. South 

 of Ahmednuggur, as far as Soagaon on the Beema river, and Meerujgaon on the Seena river, the 

 Ahmednuggur minerals prevail ; hence descending the Beema to its junction with the Seena, a 

 gradual diminution takes place, and at the junction they almost disappear ; returning north, at 

 Ashtee, between Kurkumb and Mohol, a few are met with. At Oondurgaon, and up both banks 

 of the Seena river to Purrunda, numerous and very fine specimens of milk opal, with a flame- 

 coloured tinge in transmitted light, are found on the surface ; and this is the only locality where I 

 met with opal as a distinct mineral ; and here the members of the zeolite family are very rare. At 

 Tudwull, between Oondurgaon and Barlonee occur the only specimens of black calcareous spar 

 seen by me in Dukhun ; it is associated with transparent calcareous spar. In excavating wells in 

 the cantonments at Poona, splendid specimens of ichthyophthalmite were brought to light ; and 

 generally in the bed of the river Mota-Mola and the neighbourhood, fine specimens of heliotrope 

 and coloured quartz occur. The other minerals are nadelstein, analcime, chabasite, and laumo- 

 nite. Captain Dangerfield's details prove that the minerals of Malwa are identical with those of 

 Dukhun. 



Natural Salts. 



Only two kinds of natural salt came under my notice, namely, muriate and 

 carbonate of soda. 



With respect to the former, many of the wells at Ahmednuggur are brackish ; and there is a 

 rivulet running into the Seena river about two miles north-west of the city, which has its source a 

 few miles distant, called the Salt Brook. It passes over a saliferous soil ; and in its dry bed, or 



