IN THE CARNATIC. 3 



Their surface in general eKhibits a dark red appearance on the heights, 

 and a sandy colour in the low grounds ; an elfedt produced by the perio- 

 dical rains, which have formed, in many places, deep channels through, 

 the sides of the hills, driving the sand into the hollows, and leaving 

 exposed to the view, their ruddy stratum, which every where has a very 

 rugged appearance. The sub-stratum, inmost places, seems to be a spe- 

 cies of lime mixed with red earth, of so soft a quality as to be easily 

 broken by any iron instrument. 



On the declivity, and on the west side of this hill, about tw^o feet and 

 a Mf below its summit, a petrified tree appears, lying in a horizontal 

 position on the surface of the ground, with about two thirds of its root 

 entirely bare> 



Of the body of this tree (which has been divided into three pieces, 

 by the stone-cutters) twenty feet still remain ; the root being seven feet 

 in diameter; the trunk, at the bottom, three feet ; in the middle part, two 

 feet ; and at top one and a quarter foot in diameter. 



Another tree lies at a small distance from the above, and five feet 

 below the summit of the hill ; this is almost buried in the stratum, the 

 surface only being visible. Some parts of this tree are as hard as flint, 

 and others so soft as to be reduced to dust by the slightest pressure. 

 Another tree, not far off, is forty feet in length. All these petrifactions lie 

 horizontally, and none of their branches can be discovered, even detach- 

 ed, or in the vicinity of the parent stem. " These must have withered 

 away before the process of petrification had taken place ; for the knots at 

 the insertion of the branches witli the tru\ik are very visible in most of 

 the trees. 



