I860.] TJie Geological Survey of India. 343 



the bed of ore which plunges inward on one side rises to the day on 

 the other. Four or five bands of ore have been observed, and can 

 be traced at intervals, through the thick scrub all round the cir- 

 cumference. The two lowest beds are each about 50 feet in thick- 

 ness ; and the authors remark that they are exceedingly conspicuous 

 even when seen from a distance, especially when the morning or 

 evening sun deepens the shadows, and lights up the projections. At 

 such times these iron-beds may be seen encircling the hill in sharply- 

 cut terraces of grey or purple colours. From the base of the hill, 

 and extending for a distance of two miles or so, the ground is 

 strewn with rounded blocks of ore, while the sides of the hill itself 

 are in places thickly coated with a talus of the same material ; in 

 fact, nature has here carried out mining operations to such an extent, 

 that the largest furnaces might be fed for years with the rough-hewn 

 ore. 



These beds of iron follow all the convolutions of the schistose 

 rocks with which they are associated ; and their laminae of quartz 

 are observable in hand specimens alternating with those of ore. 

 The average yield is about 55 per cent, of pig-iron, which for every 

 ton smelted requires 13i tons of charcoal. The steel made from 

 this ore by the natives is of f the finest description ; and we have 

 been informed by an English officer long resident in that district 

 that there is documentary evidence to show that the famous Damascus 

 steel, and those scimitars of whose wonderful exploits we read in 

 the ' Arabian Nights,' were wrought out of the ore of these hills. 

 Be that as it may, there is no question as regards the degree of 

 temper to which the native craftsmen, by their rude and simple process 

 of manufacture, are able to bring the metal, which cannot be sur- 

 passed, if equalled, by the European, with all his aids and appliances. 



The ore is worked by the British Porto Novo Company, at Poolam- 

 putty, on the left bank of the Cauvery. It has to be conveyed from 

 20 to 25 miles before smelting, and when manufactured, is carried 

 down the river during floods. The fuel is charcoal, which appears to 

 be fast decreasing from the wasteful manner in which the scrub wood 

 is used up, combined with the general neglect of planting. Govern- 

 ment has for a long while established a Forest Conservancy Depart- 

 ment ; but as yet it has had little power to materially diminish the evil. 



The memoir of Messrs. Bang and Foote we consider to be an 

 excellent specimen of what a Geological Survey Memoir of an Indian 

 district shoidd be. It is carefully and clearly written, well arranged, 

 and treats of those collateral subjects of climate and physical geo- 

 graphy which depend so greatly on the geological conformation of 

 the country. 



In Mr. Medlicott's memoir there is (as it seems to us) a certain 

 want of conciseness and methodical arrangement of the subject. We 

 object to two such terms as " Sub-Himalayan " and " Infra- 

 Himalayan " being applied to designate two series of strata, as being 

 likely to cause confusion in the mind of the reader ; and there is a 

 degree of vagueness in the wood-cut sections which is highly embar- 

 rassing. Perhaps the engraver, and not the author, is responsible for 



