1838..] 



Notes on Goomsoor* 



139 



the rock is the same as the last, but, except in one place, is not in per- 

 pendicular ledges^ but the whole mass has a bluff rounded appearance; 

 it does not appear on the banks of the stream, which are high and 

 covered with stunted Dhoonas (the Dammer tree, Chlorowylon Du^ 

 pada). The rock is full of fissures and little empty cavities. 



The mountains surrounding Wodiaghur, are lofty and generally pre- 

 sent a bold and rough outline, few of them are strictly conical. 

 Their sides rugged, steep, and often inaccessible. Sometimes emi- 

 nences are formed of immense masses of rock piled one over the other, 

 of the description of granite already mentioned, and resisting for ever 

 the effects of the weather. 



Differing in shape from all the hills in the neighbourhood, is one 

 ofty conical one towards the west, exactly in shape of a sugar loaf, 

 and scarcely with a larger space, in proportion, at the top. The ascent 

 extremely difhcult and steep, and the sides covered with debris, which 

 gave way beneath the feet at every step. No rocks made their appear- 

 ance till at the top, where the surface of those, apparently partially 

 decomposed, presented a red and pohshed appearance, and structure 

 hard and jaspery. The general appearance of the rock porphyritic. The 

 soil on the hill has an extremely black appearance ; whether the annual 

 combustion of the vegetation, the ashes of which annually bestrew 

 the ground to various depths, may assist in giving this character to the 

 soil, I know not at present, in the absence of analysis. The grass was 

 from six to twelve feet high, and so thick that it was with difficulty we 

 forced our way through. 



The rocks, near the level of the plains of Wodiaghur, at various 

 places appear above the surface, presenting quite a different appear- 

 ance—a granite with large rhomboidal crystals of felspar. Where 

 this rock is level with the ground, or on thoroughfares, the surface is 

 worn down, and parts containing felspar have the appearance of 

 pieces of chalk bruised beneath the feet. At Putlingeah about two 

 hundred and fifty feet up the side of the mountain, I found granite 

 in a decomposed, and decomposing state. The Chlo r 0x1/ Ion Dapada 

 abounds in all directions above the ghauts, but it is stunted,* it 

 is below, in the deep hollows, and sheltered stations, that it 

 attains a great size : the stem is then remarkably straight and 

 lofty, and devoid of foliage ; and the forest has consequently a 

 grotesque appearance; the lofty branches uniting their leaves and 

 forming a dark shade like an artificial canopy. I have traversed a 

 forest of the C. Dupada fifty or isixty miles in breadth, I looked long 



