1845.] across the Peninsula from Mangalore. 653 



roodoomulla, Rajeegoondy, to Ramasundra in the Cuddapah collec- 

 torate, a little W. of Panganores. 



Vencatagherry . This is the first march from the frontier into N. 

 Arcot. The formation is similar to that of Baitmungalum ; but granite 

 (the grey variety) is more prevalent, and the quartz more impregnated 

 with iron. Magnetic iron sand is procured and smelted in the vicinity. 

 It is found as usual mingled with quartz sand in the beds of streams 

 which have their rise among the hilly tracts. 



Naikenairy. A small village, formerly under the Poligar, situated at 

 the top of the Pass to which it gives its name, and which leads down 

 the ghauts to the plains of the Carnatic. 



Evident marks of the great disturbance and dislocation suffered by 

 the strata are visible in the rugged physical aspect of the country to 

 the eastward, and further confirmed in examining the sections of the 

 rocks, whose layers are found broken, on end, vertical, and at various 

 other degrees of inclination down to the horizontal. 



The grey granite which chiefly composes the ghauts here, is a com- 

 pound of white felspar, quartz, dark green mica, and hornblende. The 

 mica is sometimes seen in round nests as large as a man's head, which 

 in weathering fall out, leaving corresponding cavities in the rock. These 

 are seen in the faces of some of the precipices, and impart the appear- 

 ance of having been caused by cannon-shot. Iron ore, and quartz im- 

 pregnated with iron, are found in considerable abundance. Veins of 

 quartz are common, also of reddish foliated felspar, either alone or with 

 quartz, often coloured of a lively green by actynolite. When these 

 three minerals are combined, the structure of the mass is not unfre- 

 quently porphyritic ; small cavities lined with an orange-yellow powder 

 are seen in the red felspar, also a micaceous brilliant metallic powder 

 first noticed by Benza, and which he seems to think is cerium, but this 

 idea has not yet been confirmed by chemical analysis, which is a desi- 

 deratum. 



The descent of the ghauts here is steep and abrupt ; and five miles 

 and a half long from Naikanairy to the valley of Buttrapilly at the foot 

 of the Pass. 



The descents of the ghauts by the Mooglee Pass from Palamanair, 

 and by that of Domaracunnama from Ryachooty, are by no means so 

 abrupt or continuous as this : the formation is similar, but the ghaut 

 chain is more broken. 



