780 Notes, chiefly Geological, [No. 166. 



shaded by the cocoa, areca palm, and the jack, spreading over a large 

 area, the surface of which is diversified with two wooded hills, and 

 watered by numerous mountain rills. 



The Traveller's bungalow stands on one of these low eminences on 

 a bed of laterite resting on gneiss. The gneiss is hornblendic, strike of 

 strata W. 50° N., and dip 86° S. 5° E. 



The soil is red, and often consists of a barren laterite detritus. A 

 well, twenty-four feet, is cut in the laterite. 



A market for salt fish from the coast, cotton cloths from Coimbatore, 

 &c. is held here every Saturday. Approximate height above sea by 

 boiling point, 393 feet. 



Waliyar. — A tiled Bungalow for the accommodation of travellers, 

 has been erected by a liberal native banker of Coimbatore, named Bis* 

 ram Singh, in this forest hamlet, which consists only of a few rude 

 huts. The surrounding jungles are rather notorious for being the fa- 

 vourite haunt of the tiger and elephant at certain seasons. Few in- 

 stances, however, have been recorded of their attacking travellers. The 

 natives affirm it is dangerous to sleep here during the cold months of 

 November, December and January, on account of a jungle miasma 

 which engenders fever. Laterite is the prevalent surface rock. 



The approximate height above sea by boiling point 283 feet. 



Tirtalla. — This is a large village in S. Malabar, a few miles from 

 Palghaut,, about sixteen miles direct distance from the sea at Panani. 

 It is pleasantly situated in a valley, flanked by hills of gneiss and 

 hornblende schist partially overlaid by laterite, on the banks of the 

 Walliyar or Ponani river. The strata of gneiss, which is highly wea- 

 thered, run E. by S. and dip 45° toward the S. The banks of the 

 river consist of a loosely consolidated laterite clay and sandstone over- 

 lying a bed of a stiff black carbonaceous clay. It is not improbable 

 that lignite and mineral copal exist in this vicinity, as I found a small 

 fragment of the latter in the river bed. The sand which covers it, is 

 quartz and micaceous. On digging to the depth of five feet, I found 

 layers of a white coloured sand alternating with sand of a ferrugi- 

 nous colour and thin layers of a dark brown clay passing into 

 black. 



The soil in the rice grounds is a sandy clay mingled with decayed 

 vegetable matter. 



