34 LAKE : GEOLOGY OF SOUTH MALABAR. 



In boring in the bed of the Kallai River at Calicut (for foundations 

 for a bridge) a bed of oily shale was found, resembling (so far 

 as can be judged from dried specimens) the mud of the mud-banks 

 at Alleppy and Narrakal. There is a mud-bank at Calicut similar 

 to these, but much smaller, and it is probably the seaward outcrop of a 

 bed similar to that found in the boring. This bed thins out to north 

 and south, as is shown by the other borings. 



Fishbones and shells have also been found in some borings made 

 in this river, but I have been unable to get any specimens. The 

 beds are probably marine and estuarine in origin. 



The banks of the Ponna*ni River near Kuttipuram are loamy, and 

 close to the top of the bank collections of shells were found, and 

 also a piece of semi-fossil resin. It is very likely, however, that 

 these shells were placed there by human agency, and in fact pieces 

 of pottery were found with them. The pottery was of recent 

 make. 



In other places marine and estuarine shells are found in great 

 numbers. Near Kuttipali at a height of 250 feet above the sea, 

 several were found scattered on the surface. 



On the sides of the hill, about a mile east of Ferokh, very large 

 numbers of bivalve shells are found imbedded in a loose pellety laterite. 

 As the laterite is found on the side of the hill in a valley cut through 

 the plateau, it is evidently newer than even this, the western, part of 

 the plateau laterite. The shells are estuarine and have no doubt 

 served as food (for most of them belong to one species), and it is 

 probable that there is here a sort of " Kjokken-modding." Even 

 now, heaps of perfectly fresh shells are constantly found near the 

 huts, and a villager informed me that they were brought from the 

 river at Mammali (near Ferokh). The shells in the laterite are sub- 

 fossil, with all the pearly layer worn away and must be of consi- 

 derable age. They are found in the sides of the little gullies and 

 footpaths. They serve to show that laterite has been forming here 

 since man came to this part of the country. 



In many other places along the banks of the Beypore River, 

 ( 234 ) 



