no Gcolog// of Bangahre^ and of [Jan. 



patam the couniiy becomes )nore olevii'eJ ;ind barren, much qiiurtz 

 covcriiig the road. Sometimes quartz; rock jutting out of the ground, 

 but principally hornblende slate — the road then passes through a range 

 of low hills terminating in the Corighaut hill. 



This range of low hills, better seen coming from than going to Serin- 

 gapatam, is of smooth outline— no deep valleys between — one hill run- 

 ning into another, peaked slightly at top, and sloping down, meeting 

 another of the same formation, and well contrasted with (he porphyritic 

 granite of the French Rocks at the distance. These hills of low and 

 Smooth outline, and through which the high road passes, are of chlorite 

 slate— the chlorite of a beautiful light green colour and glistening — 

 much quartz in small pieces lying about, and the gneiss rock showing 

 the passage into mica slate. In one spot on the road, the union existing 

 between hornblende, actynolite, tremolite, and asbestos, was well shown, 

 as mentioned by mineralogists, and it would have been difficult to define 

 well and clearly which they decidedly belonged to. Here also there 

 are some rocks of the red stone before mentioned, containing principally 

 a red clayey felspar, with small microscopic cavities of a black shining 

 metallic substance. This region is altogether a very marked and slaty 

 one — the country rather elevated, and very bleak, and with not the least 

 cultivation. As we approach Seringapatam, trap dykes are observed on 

 both sides of the road. 



Seringapatam, a place of such classic military celebrity, lies low, 

 and in a valley, high ground on three sides of it. It is built upon 

 an island, formed by the branching of the river Cauveri, 2,412 feet 

 ahove the level of the sea, and therefore between five and six 

 hundred feet lower than Bangalore. It is a place possessing much 

 interest both to the military and medical man. The eye of the 

 last wanders over it, questioning the reason of its unhealthy celebrity. 

 Many writers, and the very best, Mr. Geddes, are inclined to refer its 

 unhealthiness to its proximity to a jungly tract of country, not entirely 

 overlooking its site, but perhaps not allowing sufficiently for it. If 

 proximity to jungle had any thing to do with it, the French Rocks, distant 

 only six miles, would be similarly unhealthy, which they never have 

 been. It is as healthy a station as Bangalore or any other in the Mysore 

 country. In 1835, the 19th regiment N. I. lost only 5 men — in 1836, 

 1 1 men, and in 1837, 18 men— average for the 3 years 11. In all investi- 

 gations into the sources in general of disease, we are too prone perhaps 

 to attach importance to one particular cause, neglecting the combined 

 influence of minor circumstances — and where one does not stand out 

 prominent, we throv.' the others aside as perfectly insufficient. No 

 jungles being close at hand, no extensive marshes in the neighbourhood. 



