Geology of Bangalore, and of [Jan. 



wbicli is daily forming. Professor Jamieson says The first, (the old), 

 " appoars to have been deposited from the waters of kikes that foravM-ly 

 " existed in limestone districts, but which have long since disappeared." 

 Of the last he says " The waters which flow along the surface of the 

 *' globe and which are charged with calcareous earth, deposit it on the 

 districts they traverse, and thus form tufas which are either porous 

 or compact, and are of the newest formation. " The best example of 

 the old formation I found in the neighbourhood of Goondlepett, about 

 30 miles from the bottom of the Neilgherries, and extending towards 

 Mysore. The country there is flat, with few undulations, and with the 

 appearance of having perhaps once been much covered with water. The 

 calcareous tufi in that locality, is either compact, or loose and earthy 

 in texture. The compact I found on the road between Goondlepett and 

 Sindhullv, jutting out about 2 or 3 feet from the ground in rounded 

 masses, and sometimes with a most irregular and almost pisiform surface. 

 On being broken into, it showed in the most compact specimens a 

 sparry semi-crystaline appearance, with round darker coloured brown 

 spots — in many of the specimens crystals of quartz were imbedded or 

 attached, and some had a cavernous appearance. It might almost be 

 called a calcareous conglomerate, and answers exactly to that described 

 by Colonel Cullen as existing at Cuddapah, forming manj^ of the in- 

 closures, which indeed it did here. The softer and more earthy kind 

 of kunkar I found in the ditch at Goondlepett, immediately under the 

 soil and covering hornblende and actynolite slate ; and an excavation 

 inside the fort showed the same — a bed of kunkar, of a water- 

 worn, irregular and almost coralline appearance. Some of the specimens 

 in the ditch were of a brown approaching to red colour, with pieces of 

 hornblende and actynolite imbedded, described by Dr. Benza, and form- 

 ing as he says a real breccia. In the rocks, of which the fort is con- 

 structed, are some of calcareous spar, and it is more than probable deep 

 sections in the surrounding country would show a limestone rock. 



In districts such as this, where the old calcareous or rather kunkareous 

 formation exists, and in inanv p^aoesin India where limestone abounds, 

 the modern kunkar formation can be satisfactorily accounted for. But 

 there are many tracts in India and in Mysore where no trace of ancient 

 kunkar is to b'^ found, and where there are no limestone rocks. How 

 then it may be asked can we account for the formation of this kunkar? 

 Long did I endeavour to do so, but in vain, until a deep section near 

 the road between Mundium and the French Rocks opened up to me some 

 views on the subje 't. In the section there was decomposing gneiss 

 with beds of hornblende slate, and thick veins of a calcareous substance 



