331 



Geology of the South of India. 



[Oct. 



of the Tapti. The IcMigtli of the range is -about one hundred and 

 sixty English miles, and average breadth, from twenty to twenty- 

 five miles." 



" On the southward side they rise a\)ru|)tl Y from the extensive plain 

 of Berar, the avei*ag;e height of wliieh is one thousand feet above the 

 level of the sea, and tower above it to the height of two and three 

 tliousaud feet. The descent to the bed of the Tajytt is equally ra- 

 pid, althougli the northern is loss elevated than the southern side of 

 the range. The outline of the land is generally flat, but much bro- 

 ken by ravines and by groupes of flattened summits, and isolated 

 conoidal fnistra. The summits and the flat land are generally remar- 

 kably destitute of trees, but thickly covered by long grass. In the ra- 

 vines and passes of the mountains, the forest is very thick, and, in 

 many places, almost impervious. The inhabitants are principally 

 Gonnds, whose language, manners, and customs difler remarkably 

 from those of the Hindus. At present, their chief occupation is hunt- 

 in2: and cultivating; small patches of land, which produce a coarse 

 rice and millet. In former years, the cultivation must have been 

 verv extensive, since there are the ruins of numerous hill-forts and 

 viUa^^es, which derived their chief subsistence from the surrounding: 

 lands." 



Many opportunities are afforded of studying the nature of this 

 mountainous range in the numerous ravines, torrents, and precipi- 

 tous descents, which abound in every part. A Wernerian would not 

 hesitate in pronouncing them to be of the newest floetz.-trap for- 

 mation," a HuLtonian would call them overlying rocks, and a mo- 

 dern Geologist would pronounce, that they owed their origin to sub- 

 marine volcanoes." 



" I shall not givethem any other name,than the general one of trap- 

 rocks ; but proceed to describe them, and state with diffidence the 

 inferences which, I think, obviously present themselves on an atten- 

 tive study of their phenomena." 



" 1st. The principal part of the whole range is formed of compact 

 basalt, very much resembling that of the Giant's Causeway. It is 

 found columnar in many places, and at Gawilgerh, it appears strati- 

 fied— th« summits of several ravines presenting a continued stratum 

 of many thousand yards in length." 



" 2dly. The basalt frequently and suddenly changes into a wacken, 

 of all degrees of induration, and, I may say, of every variety of com- 

 position usually found among trap-rock ;" 



*' 3dly . Into a rock which may be named indifferently, nodular- wack- 



