Boghelcund, and the Districts of Saugor and Juhulpore. 199 



formations, as in other countries; but there is reason to think that it is thin 

 and very often wanting-; and my motive for thinking- that it is thin, is, that 

 its strata have no breadth, as in other countries : — as an instance, I refer to the 

 series which is laid bare in the bed of the Nermada river, between Lamaita 

 and Beragarh. The strata are there not intermixed like those of the Kymur 

 Hills, but present a series of beds from gneiss upwards, each in its place, gra- 

 duating imperceptibly into the next, and all preserving the same dip, direc- 

 tion, and parallelism ; and yet this series is comprised within the space of two 

 miles, without any evident reason for its being so confined. 



The Kymur Hills undoubtedly pass under the sandstone of the Bandain 

 Hills, and perhaps repose on granite; but I have no proof that they do so: and 

 I mention it as one of those circumstances which may be better applied here- 

 after than at present. 



The sandstone formation is the next which attracts notice. Its thickness 

 is of course variable. At the Bouti cataract it exceeds 420 feet, and there can 

 be no doubt that it is thicker near Chachye and the Tonse cascade; — at the 

 Bandain Hills the thickness must be still greater. It appears to comprise most 

 of the varieties of Dr. MacCulloch's lowest and superior sandstones, but the 

 general parallelism of its strata to the horizon better identifies it with the 

 new red sandstone of England. 



The limestone formation is exceedingly curious. It constitutes a mere 

 plastering over the surface of red marl or sandstone, and I should doubt 

 whether it ever attains the thickness of one hundred feet; perhaps fifty may 

 be a fair average. I have not met with it in any other place than on the 

 summit of the second range of hills; and it may there be seen in the low lands 

 and beds of small rivulets ; but the larger rivers have their channel in the 

 subjacent sandstone, and, perhaps, in some cases in the primitive strata. 



The overlying rocks are not only the most extensive, but, considered as 

 geological pheenomena, the most important in India. The thickness of this 

 formation is constantly variable. In the centre of India it occupies the summit 

 of the highest mountains, and at Bombay it descends to the level of tiie sea. 

 It reposes indiscriminately upon every rock, from granite upwards ; and all 

 that can be done, therefore, with respect to it, is, to find out the rock on which 

 it reposes, and the level of its inferior limit in the tract under e.Kamination : 

 thus at Saugor it reposes on sandstone, and its inferior limit in that district is 

 about 1350 feet above the sea. 



There are two kinds of basaltic rocks in the district of Jubulporc, which 

 are clearly distinct formations. The oldest variety is that which penetrates 

 the grauwacke stratum in the bed of the Nermada river, near the village of 



