274 Br. Voysey's Private Journal [No. 4. 



the plain to the northward, the iron clay presented in no instance an 

 appearance of stratification, but I noticed in several instances a gra- 

 dual transition from it into wacke and thence into basalt, of which 

 there are numerous little elevations in the neighbourhood. I noticed also 

 lithomarge in considerable quantities, both in beds and in the rock it- 

 self, I re- ascended to the southward, finding the iron clay vary in form 

 and in some instances degenerating into an ochery soft clay. It must 

 be observed that the iron clay itself is very soft when first quarried and 

 becomes indurated on exposure to the air. To the south-east a curious 

 sight presented itself in the form and disposition of the hills, of which 

 I made a sketch taken in a different direction ; the flattened summits 

 were here most distinctly seen with the bevelments of the usual angle ; 

 around these were several small conical summits entirely isolated, some 

 on the contrary were of a flattened rounded form, intermixed, con- 

 sisting evidently of basalt. 



Saturday, 26th March, 1819. — I recommenced my observations on 

 the hill of Beder, and this morning rode to the north-westward. I 

 every where saw the basalt at the foot of the hill passing into wacke 

 and iron clay, in one place the transition did not occupy more 

 than three feet and was very distinct. This easily explains the depth 

 of the wells in the fort and the tower ; the very porous iron clay 

 being unable to hold the water it drips through until it meets with 

 the basalt. It is proper here to observe that in most instances the vesi- 

 cles or pores of the rock, had the appearance of long hollow tubes 

 always vertical. The basalt was not confined to the valley but was 

 found in a considerable number of elevations, of all forms, around. I 

 observed on the western side several springs just above the level of the 

 basalt. The singular improvidence and want of foresight in the 

 builders of the fort was very evident in several places : finding the rock 

 so very soft and easily worked they excavated, or rather cut it down 

 even with the wall, it has subsequently mouldered and the wall has 

 been precipitated with it. The high land projecting into the valley 

 or plain through which the Manjera runs, like a number of buttresses 

 resembling very much that at Sudghir, is seen to the westward ; to the 

 verge of the horizon to the eastward the hills have a more abrupt 

 and irregular character. The magnetic needle did not appear to be 

 affected by the iron clay rocks. I visited a manufactory of Beder bot- 



