LOWER TRANSITION ROCKS. 79 



are part of the same series reproduced by great faulting. This 

 explanation will, I think, hold good also for the great haematite 

 beds still further south in the Teligi hill, and to those westward of it, 

 forming the Vatala-halli hill (Wattlehully) on the right bank of the 

 Tungabhadra. These latter appear to cross the river valley and to 

 reappear in the hills, which rise in Dharwar district between the 

 river and the town of Rani Bennur. 



The triple haematite bed which forms the Teligi hill probably occu- 

 pies a higher position in the series than those 

 Teligi hill. cresting the hills north and south of Hallagilvadi, 



which later re-appear further south in the great bed which forms the 

 crest and peak of Kondaji hill and extends southward for several 

 miles into the Mysore territory spread. None of the haematites 

 present any features of special interest ; many of them are rich 

 enough to be worth smelting if fuel were cheap and abundant ; but 

 the hills of the Kunchur (Coonchoor) band are very bare of vege- 

 tation, and the argillite plain still more so, though perfectly capable of 

 supporting fine trees. I did not hear of any existing iron industry 

 in the Kunchur band, nor meet with signs of an old iron industry, 

 except in the form of an old mine of no great size, on the north-west 

 side of Teligi hill. This mine will be referred to again further on. 

 East of the old iron mine at the north-west end of the Teligi hill 



Beds west of Teligi are tw0 dark black parallel ridges, which at a 

 hill » little distance, look exceedingly like trap-dykes, 



but when closely inspected they turn out to be haematitic beds and 

 extensions of the Vatallahalli haematites. They are composed of 

 haematite quartzite greatly crushed and brecciated, and have under- 

 gone much laterization of the surface, which is also largely coated in 

 parts with brown haematite. 



Some of the argillites overlying the Teligi triple haematite band are 



Pink and lavender °^ pinkish and lavender colours, soft in texture, and 

 argillites. suitable for pigments. These seem to have been 



excavated from the old mine, as well as the locally soft and rather 

 clayey iron ore. They show, too, in some deep rain-gullies on the 



( 79 ) 



