766 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 166. 



greenish white ; and with red felspar coloured with actynolite and 

 chlorite. Hornblende schist is very prevalent, mica and talcose schists 

 less so. 



The foot of the steep descent of the Shevaroy hills is about six 

 miles to the N. by E. from Salem. The granite lossing its mica passes 

 often into a pegmatite, and gneiss into leptinite. 



Both Regur, alluvial reddish, sandy and clay soils, and mussub 

 or regur mixed with alluvia, are found around Salem. The staple pro- 

 ductions are cotton, indigo, rice, bagra, and juari. The table lands of 

 the Shevaroy hills produce fine coffee, of which extensive plantations 

 have been recently formed. 



Heyne tells us that formerly the East India Company had an esta- 

 blishment for the purchase of cotton- manufactured goods here, but now 

 English cotton cloths drive the Indian out of the market, and the raw 

 material is exported to England, manufactured into cloth, and under- 

 sells the Indian cloth after having perform two voyages, collectively 

 equal to the circuit of the globe. 



The subsoils are hunker and mhurrum (gravelly detritus of rocks 

 in situ) saltpetre, murate and carbonate of soda, occur in the surface 

 soils. 



Salem. — Salem is capital of a collectorate of the same name, situated 

 Lat. North 11° 41' Long. East 78 3 14' in the plain a few miles to the 

 SW. of the great break in the table land of the Balaghat, which here 

 descends upwards of 3000 feet to the plains of Salem and Coimbatore, 

 by the steeps of the Shevaroy mountains. 



The Civil and Judicial head-quarters of the district are fixed here, 

 though the collector generally resides at Ossoor, on the table land. 

 A detachment of Native Infantry, furnished from the garrison of 

 Trichinopoly, of three Companies, supplies the treasure and jail guards, 

 &c. (March 1840.) 



The native town lies on the left or eastern bank of the Tirrimani 

 stream, which empties itself into the Cauvery, and separates the town 

 of Salem from the fort, barracks, and residences of the Europeans. It 

 is about sixty paces broad, and crossed by a bridge of five arches. 

 During the dry season, like the other streams of South India, it cannot 

 boast of too much water. 



The native town is nearly a mile in length, the main street broad, 

 clean, and in general well drained. 



