Mr. Eraser's Journey from Delhi to Bombay. 143 



chiefly of sandstone ; but they are evidently of a class and character quite dif- 

 ferent fronij and unconnected with, those in question. On the south-west of 

 Delhi the latter take a south-eastern course, from Hurrianuh to Ajmere; 

 whence they run down more to the southward, but still with an eastern ten- 

 dency, separating the elevated plateau of Mevvar, and the countries to the 

 east, from Marwaur, Jesselmere, and the lower and more sandy countries of 

 the west ; till, at some point not fully ascertained, they are lost in the exten- 

 sive and elevated trap formations of Malwa, and the countries to the east and 

 southward of that province. 



The interior of this wide outline of hills is filled up with a succession of 

 ranges, and valleys, and of plains diversified by insulated peaks or clusters of 

 rocky hills, varying in height j^nd sometimes in character : the ranges of 

 this tract of mountains being seldom continuous with one another above the 

 surface, though every thing declares that they are all connected below. Large 

 tracts it is true occur, which are wholly of a mountainous character ; such as 

 great part of Mewar, parts of Jeypoor (or Dhoomdar), and probably several 

 countries to the south-east ; but it is only on the western boundary, that the 

 chain assumes its truly mountainous aspect. It will be seen in the sequel, 

 that between Marwaur and Mewar, peaks and mountains occur above two 

 thousand feet high ; and to the southward this height may probably be ex- 

 ceeded. 



It is remarkable that towards the north, and on the eastern boundary, the 

 hills, though varying little in composition, present a more equal, level-topped 

 appearance, resembling the table-like forms of the trap-formation ; no peaks 

 rising above a certain very distinctly defined height : while to the southward, 

 and indeed all along the western boundary, they assume the bold, peaked^ and 

 jagged forms of primitive mountains. 



The rocks at Delhi are almost entirely composed of quartz : the variety 

 which chiefly predominates having always a tendency to semitransparency 

 arid a vitreous fracture, and varying in colour from grey to yellow and red or 

 brown ; and this stone appears, by some addition to its component parts or 

 some variation in their admixture, to graduate into sandstone, which is found 

 indiscriminately with it in most parts of the hills : the substance which colours 

 it, also occurring in spots throughout. These rocks are disposed in strata 

 dipping generally towards the S.W. from the horizon, at an angle of about 

 45°. They have moreover a tendency to division across the strata, as also 

 vertically, so as to produce a cubiform shape. Mica is found occasionally, 

 both in pieces of considerable size and scattered about among the soil ; but 

 not, I think, in intimate commixture with the rock itself The quartzose rock 



