1845] from Pondicherry to Bey poor. 771 



whenever quartz or chert veins happen to cross the gneiss in the di- 

 rection of the stream, when they stand out usually in relief, and but 

 little comparatively worn down. 



In the channel of the river I found a coarse sand and gravel 

 consisting of rolled fragments of quartz, syenitic granite, granite por- 

 phyry, basaltic greenstone, augite rock, hornblende schist, reddish 

 porphyry, with tourmaline, like that higher up in the bed at Serin- 

 gapatam, chert, jasper and iron ore, (oxides and hydrates). The sand 

 contained magnetic iron sand, garnet, corundum, and a pale sapphire- 

 coloured quartz the latter rarely; evincing the existence of mines 

 of these minerals in the rocks higher up the bed. 



The corundum, ruby, and sapphire are all known to exist in the 

 Permutty Taluk lower down, and the beryl at no great distance. 



The Cauvery at Erode divides the Salem and Coimbatore Collee- 

 torates. Erode stands in the latter, and is Kusbah of a Taluk of the 

 same name. Latitude 11° 20' N., longitude 77° 48' E. Buchanan 

 states that, under Hyder's government, Erode numbered 3000 houses ; 

 in Buchanan's time it had scarcely more than 300, having been sacked 

 by General Meadows' army in the war with Tippoo. The population 

 has not much increased, it consists of the same castes as at Sankerry- 

 droog, with Brahmins of the three sects. 



The cultivation is principally rice, the produce of a tract watered 

 by a canal from the Bhowani river to the North, dug, it is said, by a 

 Vellala, named Kalinga Raya Conda. 



The ruins of the extensive mud fort, formerly one of our garrison, 

 now contains nothing but a pagoda, the houses of a few Pujaris 

 (officiating priests), and a depot for saltpetre manufactured in the vici- 

 nity, the property of Mr. Fischer of Salem. 



The earth from which it is here obtained is that from the sites of 

 decayed villages. It is reddish in colour, and mingled with old 

 coarsely pulverized brick and mortar, wood ashes, and decayed vege- 

 table and animal matter. The saltpetre is extracted by the usual 

 process of lixiviation and evaporation, and boated down the Cauvery 

 from Moganore during the monsoon months, to Nagore, whence it is 

 shipped by sea to Madras. 



The boiling point of water in this part of the Cauvery valley indi- 

 cated a depression below the plains of Salem of about 250 feet. 



