1835.] Geological Sketch of the Neilgherries. 423 



top of the same hillock are compact, scabrous, and of a slight cellular 

 texture (No. 24). Going on always S. W., we see the same vein 

 continued over the next hill, close to the road going to the Kundas ; 

 and so much divested of iron, that it resembles a friable stratified sand- 

 stone, the quartz being granular (No. 25). 



It is in this kind of magnetic iron ore, particularly in the blocks 

 below Gradation Hall, that I remarked on the quartz laminae, small 

 brilliant, gold-coloured specks, precisely similar to those seen in the 

 auriferous quartz veins in the rocks of the Malabar coasts, specimens 

 of which have been deposited by my friend Colonel Cullen in your 

 museum. Does this appearance indicate the existence of particles of 

 gold in this ore ? We know that in America, gold is occasionally 

 found in the siderocriste, which is a species of quartz iron ore, like 

 the one just described*. 



It is the belief of some people, that owing to the similarity of the 

 rocks, of the detritus, and of the quartz veins, of the Malabar 

 coast, and of these hills, gold may be found in this last, as well as in 

 the former. The specimen of the earth I send is taken (No. 26) 

 from an excavation made, some years ago, by an officer, who had 

 been employed on the Malabar coast, for the purpose of ascertaining 

 the existence of gold in the detritus of that coast. It is said that he 

 found gold in the earth dug up on the side of one of the hills of the 

 Dodabetta group, facing the cantonmentf. 



Before concluding my observations regarding this magnetic iron ore, 

 I must repeat what I said in the beginning ; that it is found in thick 

 beds, evidently imbedded either in the original rock, or, which comes 

 to the same thing, in the lithomargic earth, the result of its decom- 

 position. 



Iron ores are so common on these hills, independently of the oxides 

 of that metal contained in the minerals forming the rock, that many 

 springs of water are of the chalybeate classj. 



* The specimen of Colonel Cullen is marked " auriferous quartz, stratified: 

 Nelli Allum, Malabar." The same gentleman sent to your museum another 

 specimen, which he calls " auriferous micaschist," which contains the same 

 kind of shining, gold-coloured specks. 



1* The sand which results from the desintegration of this species of iron ore is 

 very nearly similar to what is called titaaiferous sand. — Does any menaccanite 

 exist in this sand ? The rock in which this ore is contained, appears to be similar 

 to that which is seen in Cornwall, from which the sand containing that new 

 mineral is derived. Professor Sedgwick informs Mr. de la Beche, that the 

 menaccanite of Cornwall is derived from the decomposition of a hornblende 

 rock, composed of hornblende and felspar. — Geological Manual. 



X Baikie's Observations on the Neilgherries, page 14. 

 3 i 2 



