134 ON THE PATANI. 



can conceive the limestone, following a similar impulse, would 

 present a crested or vertical front, whilst the back flow would be 

 represented by the chaotic debris above referred to, lying at a 

 comparatively low angle. Now, at the galena mines this is not 

 a solitary occurrence ; it is frequent and systematic ; wave of lime- 

 stone succeeds wave of granite for many miles. "Without, however, 

 attempting to dogmatise, it may have been that an undulating 

 earthquake really did travel the Peninsula from north to south, or 

 it may be that a simple upheaval took place and rose, so that there 

 should be a systematic and regular alternation of granite and lime- 

 stone ridges, ridge upon ridge of granite rising just so that at the 

 back of each ridge should lie a corresponding ridge of limestone. 



But, whatever may have been the nature of the movement of the 

 forces which disturbed this country, the phenomena related un- 

 doubtedly exist. These remarks are the result of long and careful 

 observation. 



In the valley of Goa Turnbus, there are several isolated lime- 

 stone peaks and the one from which the valley takes its name — 

 Goa Turnbus — is perforated from one side to the other by a large 

 opening giving the idea of a gigantic gateway. This rock or hill is 

 not less than two or three hundred feet high, and the opening is 

 probably about one hundred feet high and about four hundred feet 

 in length. The interior of this opening would make a magnificent 

 hall ; it is well lighted from both sides, and the openings are 

 festooned with creepers and other vegetation ; it is perfectly dry, 

 and as one stands in the middle of it, the look-out from either side 

 presenting a long vista of rich green forest, produces a very 

 striking effect. 



Among other eccentricities of the limestone formation, I have 

 occasionally met with in some of the caves a very beautiful pheno- 

 menon — petrified cascades or waterfalls ; such the eye would at 

 first declare them ; they are, however, merely the drippings of lime- 

 impregnated water which, falling regularly from the ceiling, happen 

 to have lighted on stones presenting many successive layers, and, 

 falling or sliding from one to the other, the deposit of limestone 

 has gradually formed into this shape, and the rounded and sprayey 

 volumes of a cascade are imitated with a fidelity which is startling. 



