154 Section of a Hill in Cuttack. [Feb. 



(12.) M. Piece found in the black slate. 



(13.) N. Specimen of dyke (vertical) through the slate. 



The other specimens forwarded are from Mahdnadi and Kutjooree. 



(1) Laterite, (2) speckled rock apparently volcanic, (3) ditto softer, (4) earth 

 between the slate and rock, (5) dike of calcareous substance, (6) lava ? (7) yellow 

 clay slate, (8) brown slate, (9) pink slate, (10) black slate, (11) vein of various 

 colors principally red, (13) dike through the slate, (14) marl between the rocks 

 and the laterite, varying in thickness, (15) upper stratum of soil, (16) sandstone 

 rock which continues for 50 or 60 miles towards Ganjam. 



The above is merely a rough sketch to exhibit the different forma- 

 tions as exposed to view: the whole is without measurement. The 

 extreme height of the hill is about 120 feet from the water level. Should 

 it be required I shall be happy to make a more correct plan by actual 

 measurement. 



Neivrdj is about seven miles in a direct line (due west) from Cuttack ; 

 H is at this spot that the Mahdnadi throwing off its branch called 

 the Kutjooree, finally quits the hilly country and the great valley 

 hence to Burmool. The natives look on this curious rock as the work 

 of " Siva" under the denomination of " Siddheswar" to whom a temple 

 (of great antiquity) is dedicated, and situated at the top of the rock, the 

 lower story of it, as well as the enclosure or terraces are hewn out of 

 the solid laterite rock, in which there are (besides) several caves, for- 

 merly inhabited by rishis (ascetics). The black rock is exported to Poo- 

 ree for the purpose of making the " tillak" or frontal mark of the 

 Hindus ; the red, yellow, pink, &c. &c. are used to paint the houses in 

 the vicinity. The sandstone does not come down to the water's edge 

 but rests on the other rock at a short distance inland ; indeed the rock 

 washed by the river extends but a very short distance, when it joins on 

 the range of coarse sandstone hillocks, which extend to the south to- 

 wards the Chilca lake, including Kandgirri, Kurdd, &c. and across 

 the Mahdnadi from Undharkot on the bank, towards DaJchanndl in 

 a northerly direction ; westerly, they extend as far as Dhompdragarh 

 on the right bank, and Barramba on the left. The rock dipping and 

 passing under the bed of the Mahdnadi. Many valleys or basins are 

 formed by these hills on both sides of the river ; in some places the hil- 

 locks are but 30 or 40 feet high, the beds of sandstone being com- 

 paratively thin, of a coarse grain, resembling gritstone ; it has numerous 

 quartz pebbles of all sizes imbedded in it : it usually rests on shingle, 

 and has a superstratum of the same kind ; which again appears to rest 

 on indurated clay slate. 



