1837.] 



through the Northern Circars. 



53 



Bimlipatam, Feb. 14. — It seems that the range, or at least a branch, 

 of the mountains composed of gneiss terminates in abrupt cliffs and 

 precipices in the sea, a few rabies north of Waltair. The tide ebbing 

 after midnight, we availed ourselves of that time to start from Waltair, 

 the road which traverses the shore and passes over the large masses of 

 rock which jut out into the sea, being at that time passable. This spur 

 of the gneiss forms rough tabular masses, which, in a vertical position, 

 extend some way into the sea; and, although the moon shone bright, 

 I could only discriminate the position of the strata. The specimens, 

 which I broke off as I passed, proved to be the gneiss, which prevails 

 in the road we followed. 



The hill at the foot of which Bimlipatam stands is also composed of 

 this rock, the strata being in no way contorted, although very much 

 inclined. This is the case, likewise, with this rock, in other localities 

 of the Northern Circars ; differing from other species of gneiss com- 

 mon to the table-land of Mysore, and extending as far as Erroad, which 

 are tortuous and twisted in all directions. The summit of this hill is 

 capped with an enormous tabular mass of a lateritic stone, placed hori- 

 zontally over the bassets of the vertical strata of the gneiss (No. 43), 

 This cavernous, ferruginous clay-stone imbeds very large pieces of the 

 subjacent rock, not only near its surface but also deep in its substance. 

 The nearly vertical position of the strata is seen better than in any 

 other situation of this hill, in the sides of the tank close to the ruined 

 house, which is cut in the hard rock. It must be remarked, that, at the 

 points of contact between the gneiss and the lateritic rock, the former 

 is very much infiltrated with iron. 



Vizianagrum, Feb. 16. — The plain, for many miles round Viziana- 

 grum, is sandy, mixed with some pieces of quartz; below the soil, in 

 one or two nullahs, are strata of nodular kankar, occasionally imbed- 

 ding pebbles of hsematitic iron ; the stalactitic kind of this ore being 

 also common (No. 44). 



Behind the barracks and the bazar of the Native Regiment quartered 

 here are some hillocks quite different, in aspect and form, from the 

 gneiss rocks we have described. It is common granite, having the 

 mica both disseminated and in nests, and contains a good deal of quartz. 

 Enormous masses of this granite are heaped up in great confusion, 

 some of them placed, tor-like, one above the other ; many rest on the 

 convex surface of others, which are deeply fixed in the ground. On 

 the surface this granite has a brownish black tinge, but it is whitish 

 grey in the fracture. When the mica is wanting and the felspar scanty, 

 the rock resembles quartz-rock. Close to these hillocks some blocks 

 of lateritic rock are seen, which have the same position as the granite, 

 that is, implanted in the soil. 



