THE 



CALCUTTA JOURNAL 



OF 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



On the Granite formation of the Salem and Barramahal 

 District. By Captain J. Campbell, Assistant Surveyor 

 General, Madras Establishment. 



Granite, we are informed by Dr. Turnbull Christie,* is 

 the most prevailing rock in the Peninsula of India. I do not 

 find, however, that its specific characters have been gene- 

 rally described by writers with so much minuteness as to 

 enable us to recognise the rock with exactness ; but where 

 I find descriptions which will agree exactly with what I 

 have seen myself, I shall allude to them, although my pur- 

 pose is principally to describe the granite formations of the 

 Salem and Barramahal, and the adjoining districts. 



The Barramahal is a rocky and mountainous tract of coun- 

 try, which commences on the east at Vaniambady, and ex- 

 tends west as far as Oossoor, where it is separated from the 

 red marie formation of Mysore by a sudden break in the 

 levels of about 200 feet in height. On the north it is sepa- 

 rated from what are generally called the Eastern Ghauts 

 by the hills of the district of Congoondy, and south it ex- 

 tends as far as a break in the level at Topoor, where there 

 is a little ghaut, called generally the Topoor Ghaut. The 

 plains between the foot of the mountains are generally nearly 



* Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal. 

 VOL. II. NO. VI. JULY, 1841. X 



