102 DIAMOND MINES OF PANNA 



Having descended the Bandair hills by the Ghat of Piperiya, I came 

 upon the second range, which like the former, is also composed of sand- 

 stone, but the surface of its plateau being covered with a stratum of lias 

 limestone, the sandstone can only be traced in the beds of rivers, or in 

 small protruding elevations, until it emerges from beneath the limestone 

 and forms the counterscarp of the Panna hills, where it is variegated and 

 friable, and the marly slates are again visible in the hills which overlook 

 the town of Panna. 



-Jd The lowest portion of the range, or that which is called Binddchal, is 

 the peculiar habitat* of the diamond, for it is not found in any other part, 

 except on the platform of this range, or on the coimterscarp of the second, 

 and it is proved by the waterfalls, that this range also is entirely com- 

 posed of sandstone. I For instance, the cascade of the Ranj river shews 

 a series of sandstone inters tratified with slate clay three hundred and 

 ninety feet thick. All the other waterfalls present similar appearances, 

 and that of the Bdgin river, penetrating deeper than the rest, exhibits a 

 fine section ; here the sandstone^ is distinctly interstratified by a succes- 

 sion of layers of slate clay, the uppermost of which having a marly base 

 is thickest, and the descending strata becoming more indurated, contain- 

 ing more mica, and gradually diminishing in thickness, dwindle away 

 finally into mere partings, and in their progress to this attenuated state, 

 ■r~ ciiiii •v,!iV.>.,. they 



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* The diamonds found in the glen of the Bdgin river are transported diamonds, they are not, 

 therefore, an exception to this rule. 



■\ See the map appended to this paper. 



:]: The sandstone of the Bindmhal hills rests as on a point d'appui upon a low ridge of syenitic 

 granite, which has, probably, saved it from being swept away. The bases of the forts of Kdlevjara 

 and Ajayagerh, are of this rock, and are merely capped by sandstone. The same may be said of 

 the scarp of the great range, but if the granite ridge be crossed by entering into any of the glens, the 

 sandstone will be seen to be at least four hundred feet thick after the ridge is passed. 



