1850.] in Southern and Central India. 297 



from fatigue. The hill appeared to be composed of one rock, syenitic 

 greenstone ; the appearance of a crater was particularly remarkable in 

 the centre of the hill. I descended and found that Captain Grey had 

 arrived during my absence. I quitted it in the evening for Mylaram and 

 arrived at Ankerpilly on the 13th February 1820. 



After remaining a greater part of the day I ascended the hill, the 

 east side of which is occupied by 4 pagodas in succession. I found the 

 rock to be granitic, but twisted to a great variety of forms, sometimes 

 resembling the mica slate at Aberdeen, sometimes that of lava. I was 

 much surprized at the obscene figures on the car of Juggernauth carved 

 in wood. 1 left in the evening and arrived at Malavilly at night. 



At sunrise on the 14th February, went to the mines which are in 

 obliquely elevated land about a mile from the village. I was attended 

 by one of the miners who had formerly worked there. The excavations 

 were deeper and longer than those of Purteal. The depth to the dia- 

 mond bed consisted of three layers of earth occupying a space of 

 about twenty feet. The rocks in the neighbourhood appeared to be of 

 granite, or at least resembling it. I had not seen any thing of the black 

 soil from my leaving Mylavarum. There is a considerable quantity of 

 ground which has not been examined, the whole ground occupies a space 

 of a coss surrounding the whole village. I was informed that the cause 

 of the working of the mines having ceased was want of capital, and the 

 disinclination of the landholders to their extension. 



There is a formation there common to all the diamond mines that I 

 have seen, namely, the calcareous tuffa ; the more I see of this the more 

 I am convinced of its affinity to the iron clay formation, and that it 

 will be found passing into it. A short time after leaving Ankerpilly 

 the palm trees made their appearance indicating our approach to a 

 siliceous soil. Two or three coss from Ellore I entered on a spacious 

 plain resembling the dry swamps of Masulipatam and its neighbour- 

 hood. The soil was for the most part red, containing silex and alumine, 

 but in the immediate neighbourhood of Ellore the cultivation had im- 

 pregnated it with more vegetable and animal matter. At Ellore I met 

 a surveyor of Colonel Mackenzie's (Mr. Donegan) who showed us some 

 of his maps. I observed that throughout the Guntoor district the level 

 gradually descends from the banks of the Kistnah, this I ascertained 

 from the bund of the tank being most generally toward the sea. The 



