150 



Descriplion of the Valletj of Sondur, 



[JULT 



discovering a trace of organic remains. The earth thrown out appear- 

 ed to be formed by the disintegration of the rock, and imbedded angu* 

 lar fragments of the lateritic stone. The summit of the ridge is a flat 

 extensive table land, extending to the southward from the lip of the 

 semi bason in which the Comarswami temide stands, exactly resembling 

 the summit of the flat topped laterite hills between the western Ghats 

 and the Indian ocean ; and descending in long flat step like spurs to the 

 plains of Mysore and the Ceded Districts. These spurs are separated 

 by ravines of various degrees of depth and widlh, taking a southerly di- 

 rection, giving the flat intervening sweeps of lateriric rock the appearance 

 of so many coulees of lava flowing down from the superior ridges and 

 spreading out in the plain below. The whole of these, as well as the 

 rock which forms the table land on the summit, is of the lateritic rock, 

 which in these situations approximates in character to that of Malabar 

 and Can^ra. It has no appearance of stratification, but separates into 

 thick tabular masses— no fossil remains. Large beds of kaolin occur/ 

 one near the temple is held sacred by the natives ; who, from its 

 whiteness and the legends of their priests, believe it to have been form- 

 ed from the congealed milk that flowed from the bosom of Parvati the 

 consort of Siva, who wandered on the iron stone mountains " in quest 

 of her lost child Comarswami." They suppose it to have the miracu- 

 lous property of renewing itself, and use it for making the distinguish- 

 ing marks on their foreheads. The decomposing felspar and quartz in 

 contact with the kaolin, is often seen in the form of a soft reddish or 

 purplish shale. The kaolin itself is often coloured yellow or reddish 

 by the oxide of iron. 



At the southern base of the hills gneiss is seen alternating with mica, 

 felspar, hornblende and quartz talcose schists, in contorted strata; with 

 a general direction of S. 25° E. and dipping N. 45 W. at an angle of 

 46° . Granitic clustered masses rise from the gneiss and its associated 

 schists, at a little distance in the plain, accompanied by dykes of green- 

 stone. A few blocks of protogine occur in an embankment near Tonsh- 

 girri : but none were observed in situ. Fragments of a beautifully 

 green rock (chlorite and felspar), occur in this vicinity probably from 

 veins in the gneiss. 



Northern extremity of Sondur Hills.— Such, is the south eastern ter- 

 mination of the hills enclosing the valley. To the N. W. near Hospett 

 the ranges approach each other, and the eastern one terminates in a 

 mammiform hill near the walls of that place, while the western range 

 stretches out some distance to the N. ^Y, where it terminates on the 



