Mr. Eraser's Journey from Delhi to Bombay. 151 



ward distant hills were seen^ of greater height than those of Jhodepoor ; and 

 on the left, or north-eastward, several peaks appeared, in one of which, called 

 Poonookur, we were informed, there are mines of lead. 



About Pahlee, a town forty miles from Jhodepoor, in a south-eastern direc- 

 tion, we passed several small ranges and dentated peaks of a very loose reddish 

 sandstone, inclosing in its substance large masses and grains of quartz and 

 gravel of other sorts : the soil about them is a loose sand and gravel. Hitherto, 

 and for some few miles further on, water is scarce, and only to be found at 

 great depths, or in the beds of streams, which are at this season dry, though 

 covered with a saline efHorescence. Beyond Pahlee, for the space of about forty 

 miles, to the foot of the range already mentioned as continuous from Ajmere, 

 and by which Marvvaur is separated from Mevvar, water is plenty, irrigation 

 practicable, and the country in consequence comparatively rich and smiling. 

 We could not discover the point where the sandstone of Marwaur ends, and 

 the primitive rocks commence ; but from the greater predominance of quartz 

 in the hills at Pahlee, it was suspected that the change occurs in that vicinity. 



This chain of mountains which we now ascended, though a very important 

 feature in the country, does not claim any particular description : they consist 

 exactly of the same sorts of rock, and in appearance a good deal resemble 

 those of the same range at Ajmere. This face of the range however is more 

 wooded, and attains a far greater height than near Ajmere ; for the table-land 

 or plateau (if so irregular and mountainous a country may be so termed) of 

 Marwaur rises towards the south ; and it is probable that the height of this 

 part of the range is at least from 730 to 1000 feet above Mewar, and that of 

 the mountainous peaks at least from 2000 to 2500 feet above the level of the 

 plains of Marwaur. 



It is, I presume, generally known, that the country in the central part of 

 India, to the north of the Nurbuddah, and between the chain of mountains at 

 present under consideration, and the valley of the Jumna and Ganges, rises 

 — gradually from the northward towards the south, abruptly from the westward, 

 and irregularly — that is to say, in some parts gradually, in others abruptly — 

 from the east, so as to form a great table-land or plateau, of which the south- 

 ern part (the province of Marwaur) is elevated from 1400 to 1700 feet above 

 the valley of the Nurbuddah, and 2000 feet above the sea. It is only the 

 western portion of this great table-land that at present claims attention. The 

 base of this tract, to the northward, evidently consists of primitive rocks, the 

 peaks of which appear through the general surface, forming the ranges and 

 insulated mountains that have been described. To the southward it is composed 



