1842.] Tract between Bellary and Bijapore. 941 



layer of the black soil, which is said to preserve it effectually from the 

 ravages of animals and insects. In the Ceded Districts, it is generally 

 carried off to the villages and there stacked. This custom of heaping 

 it up in the fields is ascribable to the almost total absence of carts and 

 bandies in the South Mahratta country and the Nizam's dominions. 



The principal trees growing wild in the plains from Bellary to Bija- 

 pore, are the Acacia arabica, the Melia azadirachta, Butea frondosa, 

 Ficus indica, Ficus religiosa, Spondias mangifera, and a tree called 

 the " Jummi," held sacred by the Mahrattas. 



The principal wild shrubs of the plain are the Cassia auriculata, the 

 Asclepias gigantea, Indigofera cserulea, and several species of Mimosa. 

 The Webera tetranda, Cassia fistula, the Zizyphus jujuba, Ixora parvi- 

 flora, the Carissa spinarum, Carissa carandas, the Bander and Hingar, 

 are generally found in the red soils, while the Jatropha glandulifera, as 

 before stated, is almost confined to the regur. On the declivities of the 

 granite hills, bushes of Euphorbia, Cacti, the Annona squamosa, and less 

 frequently the Agave vivipara. That delicious flower, the Nerium 

 odoratum, grows in abundance on the banks of the Tumbuddra. The 

 tamarind and mango trees are seen planted in a few scattered groups or 

 topes. The Solanum lycopersicum, the Calyptranthes caryophylli- 

 folia, the Musa paradisiaca, and the Feronia elephantum, are seen in 

 orchards near the villages. 



Notes principally Geological, from Bijapore to Bellary, via Kannighirri. 

 By Capt. Newbold, F. R. S. #c, Madras Army. 



No. 2. 

 The city of Bijapore stands on an immense sheet of overlying trap, 

 Geology of the plain of with an undulating surface, though here and 

 Bijapore. there small step-like descents, characteristic of 



trappean formations may be observed ; but none of sufficient altitude 

 to disturb, to any great extent, the generally level appearance of 

 the surrounding country. As far as the eye can reach, on the north- 

 west horizon are seen, from some of the higher points of the city, 

 low, wall-like, ranges of sandstone. The almost unbroken extent of the 

 plain of Bijapore affords but little scope for the geological examination 



