1836.] Geological Notes on the Northern Conkan. 763 



As there has been a great destruction of land at this place, the 

 "cliff under the bungalow may be viewed with interest. It averages 

 about 20 feet in height above the ordinary level of the tides. The 

 upper five feet is alluvial, the lower fifteen feet consisting of horizon- 

 tal strata of sandstone in different states of aggregation. Nearly at 

 right angles with the fort of Seergaum, a point of land runs out 

 towards the sea, of the same general aspect as the strata just describ- 

 ed. This seems to have been once continuous with another portion 

 reaching out from the coast, at a distance of about five miles to the 

 northward. The natives state that the whole bay was once land. 

 The destruction seems to have stopped for the present at a Mussul- 

 man burying ground, where human bones may now be seen exposed ; 

 and which the fossil seeker must be careful to distinguish from 

 " organic remains of a former world." If after another shifting of 

 place between sea and land, a deposit should be formed above, so as to 

 press and solidify the sand, containing skeletons, a mistake of this 

 kind may as easily occur here, as it did at Guadaloupe. 



The road through Tarapur, Dannu and Jyebdrdi affords many 

 opportunities of seeing sections of these strata, — all horizontal and 

 evidently above the trap. Trap rocks still form the gradually dimin- 

 ishing hills inland, being the continuation of the Western Ghat 

 range. Where the trap is exposed, as in some of the numerous 

 creeks, it presents the same weather and water-worn appearance as 

 in the rivers of the Dekhan. 



It has been assumed (seemingly by Professor Jameson*) in a late 

 summary of the geology of India, that the trap formation reaches to 

 the Nerhudda. I therefore presume that there exists no written 

 evidence to the contrary. This mistake has probably arisen from 

 rolled pebbles of trap having been seen in the bed of the Nerhudda, 

 opposite the Kabbir Bar a few miles above Broach ■ or it may have 

 been a simple conjecture. The fact is, that the trap ceases on the 

 coast between Balsar and Ganduvie. The last hills being those called 

 Dungri, a low range near the village so called, scarcely more than 

 100 feet in height and composed of porphyritic trap. The well known 

 hill fort of Punera, near the town of Balda Pari, is the last trap hill of 

 any height in this direction. At Ganduvie are strata of clay, contain- 

 ing kankar, and from this point we take leave of trap, as well as of shell 

 sandstone : kankar, and clay of various forms now present themselves in 

 the only s3ctions seen from Ganddvie to Surat. The form and situa- 

 tion of the kankar at Dumus demands future notice. The point of 

 geological interest about Surat is the constant destruction and partial 

 * Vide British India, vol. iii. Art. Geology. 

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