152 Mr. Fraser's Journey from Delhi to Bomhay. 



of a bed of basalt, which forms part of the very extensive trap formation that 

 occupies the western side of the Indian peninsula to a point nearly as far 

 south as Goa*; but the extent of which to the eastward I have not been in- 

 formed off. 



At the point we had now reached in Mewar, the country had attained a 

 height perhaps of from 700 to 800 feet above Ma.rwaur ; and on our ascent up 

 the Deoghur pass we found ourselves in a hilly tract, which extended all around 

 to the north, south, and south-east : but to the north-east the country was more 

 open, and probably lower. Our route to Odeepoor however lay entirely 

 amongst ranges of very rugged though not lofty bilk, between which the 

 country is undulated in a very irregular manner ; the rock every where coming 

 to the surface, and rising in shapeless masses above it. Many varieties of 

 gneiss were found here, plentifully veined with quartz, and united in the same 

 mass with quartz abounding in mica. The strata were nearly vertical, run- 

 ning north and south ; the laminae were sometimes waved exceedingly ; and 

 in some instances, the softer parts having been washed away by the action of 

 the weather, the harder portions thus waved projected, and had a very singu- 

 lar appearance. 



The predominating rock of the hills about the Deoghur pass is quartz, 

 which abounds every where in this part of the country ; whole peaks of it ap- 

 pearing, pure, white and glittering like snow, and mingled with masses of a 

 flesh colour. Limestone also occasionally occurs : and at Kankerowly, about 

 thirty or thirty-five miles from Odeepoor, there is a lake, partly artificial and 

 partly natural, the magnificent dams of which are entirely built of a species of 

 marble, found close in the vicinity, at a place called Rajnugur. 



About Odeepoor itself, the summits of the hills are composed of granite and 

 quartz rock : and about their foot schistus of various sorts is found. A com- 

 pound of quartz and mica is among these strata ; the course of which is inva- 

 riably from north to south, the angle of deviation from the vertical plane not 

 exceeding five or ten degrees to the west or east; and in every instance they 

 are plentifully pervaded by veins of quartz, in the same direction with the 

 strata. 



* Trap rocks have been traced to the south as far as Malwan, fifty miles north of Goa; and 

 their junction with granite probably occurs near the former place. 



f It would appear that the trap formation extends to the eastward at least as far as the vici- 

 nity of Jubulpoor and Mundlah, near the head of tlie Nurbuddah. — There are in the collection 

 of the Geological Society specimens, presented by Mr. Jack, from the banks of the river in that 

 vicinity, consisting of chalcedony, quartz, and green earth, in nodules which appear to have been 

 derived from the amygdaloid of the trap formation. — Ed. 



