1845.] across the Peninsula of Southern India. 423 



These pebbles had been scattered over the surface of the clay, and 

 had protected like a cap the portion of clay immediately under it from 

 the downward washing action of these heavy drops, which had evi- 

 dently worn away the intervening portions not similarly capped and 

 protected. On removing the stone from the top of one of these 

 columns, it was soon washed down by the heavy rain then falling. 



Large veins of white, blackish and faint rose-coloured quartz asso- 

 ciated with felspar, and imbedding large plates of silvery mica, are 

 seen in the schists which in disintegration form a white earth with 

 crimson dots and patches. 



Town of Gairsuppa. A short distance Westerly from the base of 

 the Ghauts, and about sixteen miles direct distance from the sea at 

 Honore, stands the modern village or town of Gairsuppa, pleasantly 

 situated on the left bank of the river to whose Falls it has given its name. 

 It is shaded by a grove of tall cocoa-nut trees. 



A little to the South of the present village lie the ruins of the an- 

 cient town which, under the rule of the Jaina Rajas of Ikery and 

 Bednore, and the female dynasty of Baira-devi, is said to have con- 

 tained a lac of habitations, and seventy-four Bastis or Jaina temples. 



Although these traditions are not to be relied on implicitly, still there 

 are marks of " Gairsuppa" having once been a place of considerable 

 importance, as evident by the extent of the mounds and remains of walls 

 enclosures, wells, &c. The remnants of five or six Jaina temples are 

 still visible, in one of which stood the Chatter Muki, or four-faced idol 

 of this sect. 



It now comprises about fifty houses, inhabited principally by Sirigarras, 

 a few Mahomedans, Conany Brahmins, and the low caste Halipaiks. 



The Haiga Brahmins live chiefly on their own estates in houses scat- 

 tered over the surface of the tract from which they derive their appel- 

 lation of ' Haiga," extending from Honore to Gokern. 



From Gairsuppa to Honore. The face of the country from the 

 town of Gairsuppa to Honore is diversified by hill and dale, well 

 clothed with wood and thicket. The formation is chiefly laterite co- 

 vering the hypogene schists, and forming long low ranges skirting the 

 vallies, through which the Ghaut drainage finds its way to the sea, 

 and flat. topped conical hills. Although the highest present freshes 

 do not reach the base of the laterite cliffs which flank their banks, it is 



