1836.] the Country between Hyderabad and Ndgpur. 99 



is probably here, that Captain Herbert's correspondent observed that 

 the " hardness and composition of the rock appeared to differ, accord- 

 ing to the pressure they have been subjected to." I believe, that, spe- 

 cimens of the rocks of the bottom of the hill, have been sent to the 

 Asiatic Society by Dr. Benza, and that they are composed of the pecu- 

 liar gneiss of the coast. Felspar is common, and some of the varieties 

 possess considerable beauty. There are the remains of a rock pagoda 

 cut in a mass of compact felspar, above the road, leading along the 

 edge of the precipice over the river, portions of which have fallen, the 

 natural fissures of the rock exposing it to this kind of decay. On the 

 top of the hill the soft friable white rock, No. 2*, is found, and is carried 

 away by the natives for the purpose of whitening the walls of their 

 houses. It corresponds exactly with specimens from Vizagapatam, 

 described as gneiss by Heyne, and containing imperfect garnets. It 

 is not, however, either its site as lying above other rocks, or its ex- 

 posed situation, that has led to its decay, so much as the composition of 

 the ridge where the edges of the strata rise to the south. The strata 

 dip at a very considerable angle a little to the south of east. A care- 

 ful survey of the hills from the summit shows, that they are short 

 insulated ranges, such as are found over the Circars and other tracts, 

 rising from a level country ; and that had a lake existed in the plain 

 above, every slight rise of the river would have carried its waters 

 round their shoulders to the north and south. The rise in the line of 

 bearing of the strata of the hill north of the river, and the appearance 

 of that to the south, do not support the opinion that the lake was 

 drained by the river deepening its channel. I do not know whether 

 it can be supposed to derive any support from a tale told of the river 

 god (Krishna) having induced the patron of the hill, who seems to be 

 a form of Shiva, to permit him to get his head through, and that then 

 he forced a passage. The granitic hills of Condapilly are seen a few 

 miles to the N. W. ; and in the midst of the plain, rising out of it 

 like an island, are some great masses of hornblende rock, No. 6 ; and 

 Dr. Benza informs me that he saw dykes of the same kind of green- 

 stone passing through the gneiss at Beirwarah. A mile and a half 

 further on the road to Hyderabad is a quarry of granitic rock, devoid 

 of hornblende, and containing only a very little felspar and a few scat- 

 tered garnets. A little beyond this, the rocks assume the decided cha- 

 racters of the great granite formation of the Deccan, with which Dr. 

 Voysey's papers have made your readers acquainted. The geological 

 structure of the Circars is in nothing so peculiar, as in the extensive 



* The numbers refer to specimens deposited in the Society's Cabinet.— Ed. 



