196 Dr, Voyseijs Private Journal [No. 3. 



with small pieces of granite, greenstone, blue clay slate, and calc tuff 

 mixed with clay. 



Yellumpilly, Tuesday, 1st December, 1818. — The soil of the road and 

 its neighbourhood was a rich black mould, tolerably stiff and retentive 

 of moisture, and appeared to be the result of the decomposition of the 

 primitive trap rock, of which the adjoining hills consist ; we came to their 

 feet or rather passed the end of the chain about eight miles from 

 Yellumpilly. I ascended about 100 feet and found them to consist of 

 vertical strata of trap, composed principally of hornblende in large crys- 

 tals with a little felspar, with veins of hyaline quartz, and of granite 

 containing garnets and very brilliant felspar ; also large masses of a 

 compound of what I shall call at present common schorl and grenatite, 

 though in appearance very like. The vein of granite containing the 

 garnets projected beyond the other strata, shewing less facility of 

 decomposition. I saw also brown greenstone. Farther on in the road, 

 we passed over granite and gneiss in vertical strata ; the upper stra- 

 tum consisting of calc tuff in a clayey loam. The variety of minerals, 

 plants, insects, birds, &c. seen through this short march is truly 

 astonishing and I unceasingly regretted my rapid passage through so 

 many novelties. 



Thursday, 3rd December,, 1818. — I ascended a hill two miles from 

 the Chauwadi, and found primitive greenstone in vertical strata, with 

 veins of granite and brown ironstone : the direction S. E. The soil 

 and cultivation as yesterday : about 10 it commenced raining and con- 

 tinued through the day, preventing me from making any examination 

 of the interesting hills we passed. They appeared to consist of vertical 

 greenstone, mostly conical, some small ones castellated and quite desti- 

 tute of herbage, the former being but thinly covered. At one time I 

 could count at least 40 of these conical hills, sometimes connected with 

 each other by a low chain, at others quite isolated. In the plain at 

 intervals we passed over the black mould, at others over beds of calc 

 tuff and decomposing greenstone. 



Friday, 4th December, 1818. — Our road to Repurlah lay through 

 mountains of the same description as yesterday, greenstone slate in 

 which were beds of quartz. On the road lay calc tuff with pieces of 

 greenstone cemented in it. The calc tuff contains a considerable 

 quantity of argil, and here and there small crystals of quartz. I was 



