46 



Notes, chiefly Geological, of a Journey 



[Jan. 



The different colours of the minerals give to the rock a fine appear- 

 ance. The direction of the strata in these hillocks is N. and S. dip- 

 ping east, and, as far as could be judged a* that distance (3 miles), the 

 hills west of these last are formed of the same rock, the direction and 

 the dip of the strata being the same as of the eminences near Potta- 

 motta. This species of gneiss seems to decompose easily, the albite 

 being the mineral to decay first. Many blocks, both loose and fixed in 

 the soil, are seen between Pottamotta and Bezoara. This last town is 

 situated close to the left bank of the Kistna, at the eastern side of the 

 hill, whose western base, is washed by the river during the freshes. 

 Two ranges of hills, having the same direction, viz., N and S., confine the 

 river in a kind of gorge ; the one to the north, the other to the south, 

 and therefore running in a direction at right angles with the course of 

 the river. The height of both these ridges seems to be the same, about 

 600 feet above the river. 



The water in the Kistna at this season is hardly one-third of the 

 breadth of the river during the monsoon ; but during the freshes the 

 waters expand, filling the whole breadth of the bed, reaching the foot 

 of both ranges of hills ; and then the stream must be at least a mile and 

 a half broad. It appeared to me that, both above this gap of the hills, 

 through which the river runs, and below it, the country is flat, and near- 

 ly on the same level ; therefore, what I have read in some publications 

 of the waters of the river having cut through this chain of hills, does 

 not appear very probable. 



In the alluvium, many strata of which are seen on both banks in an 

 horizontal position, are composed of a coarse sand, alternating with 

 those of a greyish clay (No. 5). The rock forming the hill, at the eastern 

 foot of which Bezoara stands, is the gneiss I have just described, the 

 strata being very much distorted and inclined, dipping south. It is 

 not rare to see entire strata formed exclusively either of quartz, or fel- 

 spar, or hornblende rock, which last lies, dyke-like, among the gneiss. 



The direction of the strata is N. E. and S. W. nearly perpendicular 

 to the course of the river, which at this place runs N. W. and S. E. 

 Gneiss is the lowest visible rock about Bezoara, the contortions of the 

 strata of which are well displayed in the sections of the new road at the 

 base of the hill to the left. i 



Gunnawartjm, J an. 23. — Early in the morning we passed over a ridge, 

 the continuation of the Bezoara hill, running eastwardly ; it was still 

 dark, so I could not distinguish the nature of the stone composing it ; 

 but some specimens I picked up in the road, proved to be gametic gneiss, 

 analogous to that of Bezoara. The plain near this place displays hard- 

 ly any blocks of stone, either loose or implanted in the soil, except near 



