4^8 



Lif ut.-Colonel Sykes on a portion of Dukhun. 



Craters. 

 "Volcanic products were not seen by me, nor any conformation of the hills that might be deemed 

 an extinct crater ; although the porcelain and ferruginous clays, and the exterior coat of the various 

 quartz and jasper minerals indicate their having been exposed to igneous action. Captain Danger- 

 field did not meet with volcanic matters or craters in Malwa or the Vindhya range, but states 

 a tradition exists of the celebrated city of Oogein, and eighty other places having been destroyed at 

 a remote period by a shower of earth ; and the people say that in the Vindhya range and Rajpeeply 

 hills there are hollows near their summits "sometimes filled with water, which may be craters*." 

 As the old city of Oogein stood upon a river constantly overflowing its banks, it was probably 

 buried in alluvium. Mr. W. Hunter attributed its destruction to one of three causes, — earthquake, 

 overflowing of the Seeprah, or drift earth by high winds ; and, although the least probable of the 

 three, inclines to drift earth. He states there are not any traces of volcanic agency in the buried 

 city, nor in the neighbourhood f- The remains of the city of Mhysir, on the banks of the Nerbuddeh 

 (Nermada), are found in alluvium. We may safely say, therefore, there are not any indications of 

 volcanic action of a comparatively recent date. 



Extent of Trap Region, ^c. 



I will now offer a few observations on the amazing extent of the trap, la- 

 terite, nodular limestone, granite, and gneiss formations in the Peninsula, 

 limiting their application to 25° of north latitude. My personal knovvledge 

 of the country extends from the sea on the western side, to Arungabad, in 

 75° 33', and Sholapoor, 75° 53' east longitude ; north, nearly to Kandeish, and 

 south, to Beejapoor and the Kristna river. Captain Dangerfield takes up the 

 country on the north, nearly where my knovvledge of it terminates, and says, 

 " It (Malwa, including the Vindhya range) appears to constitute the northern 

 termination of a very extensive secondary trap formation, which extends from 

 the extremity of the Dukhun, and probably even Mysore, forming all the 

 country above the Ghats, and part of the plains below, on the western side of 

 the Peninsula, including the islands of Bombay, Salsette, Elephanta, &c.^" 

 He carries the continuous trap north to Neemutch, in latitude 24° 27', at 1476 

 feet above the sea. Its western limit is at Dohud, longitude 74°. Major Franklin 

 and Captain Coulthard take it up in the eastern limits of Malwa, and trace it 

 through Sagar; and it continues to an unknown extent towards Sohagpoor 

 and the source of the Nerbuddeh river, on the table-land of Amarakantah, in 

 longitude 82° east. Dr. Voysey describes its eastern limits at Nagpoor, lati- 

 tude 21° 10' N., and longitude 79° 14' E. at 1000 feet above the sea. Mr. Cal- 

 der states it passes from Nagpoor southward by the confines of Hyderabad, 

 as low as the 15th degree of latitude, and taking a north-west direction termi- 

 nates on the sea-coast at Bancoot or Fort Victoria, in latitude 18°. But speci- 

 mens of rock shown to me from the Kolapoor country above the Ghats, between 



* Malcolm's Central India, Appendix, p. 325. 

 J Malcolm's Central India, Appendix, p. 320. 



t Asiatic Researches, vol. vi. p. 39. 



