1837.] 



through the Northern Circars 



61 



Sittumpetta, Feb. 23. — Tn the middle of the new Palconda pass. 

 This road, which has lately been constructed, is cut through a group 

 of hills, covered to the summit with thick impervious forests of gigan- 

 tic trees, the road lying along the tortuous valleys, and intricate paths 

 at their base. On account of the thick arboreous vegetation, the pre- 

 vailing rocks are seen now and then only, jutting through an occasional 

 avenue, or in the openings between the trees, or, more perfectly, along 

 the space which has been cleared for the road. They are all of horn- 

 blende slate, the strata of which are well defined ; the same rock, found 

 near Chicacole, is probably a diramation of this centre group, which 

 appears to give off branches in different directions. 



This schistous diorite has a bluish colour, on account of the large 

 quantity of hornblende entering into its composition — its fracture is 

 splintery and glimmering (No. 48) ; and when the felspar predomi- 

 nates, the colour changes into whitish. In most of the places we have 

 been journeying through, all the hills, knolls and elevations, and pro- 

 jecting rocks of any altitude, have been of the class of primitive strati- 

 fied rocks, but, the reader must have remarked, that, wherever oppor- 

 tunities of observation occurred in deep nullahs at their base or in the 

 valleys, common granite formed the lowest visible rock. This is the 

 case in the Palconda Pass ; the beds of the torrents, which occupy the 

 narrow and deep valleys among these closely crowded hills, show 

 blocks of granitic rocks, deep in the ground, composed of quartz, fel- 

 spar and a few garnets (No. 49), and exfoliating in concentric laminae, 

 as other granites do. 



Below the soil of the valleys through which we passed, the kankar 

 formed, as usual, a substratum. Some of the hills, near the eastern end 

 of the pass, present denuded, vertical, precipitous facades, which per- 

 mit of no vegetation, and the stratification of the rock is displayed in 

 the most striking manner. This place recalled to my mind the awful 

 escarpment of the northern side of the Holykooldroog, facing the 

 Koonoor Pass (Neilgherries) the summit of which presents to view 

 the immense strata of hornblende, which rock forms in most places, the 

 extreme vertical precipices of the Neilgherries. 



Neemgaum, Feb. 25.— The Governor and party, left Cootoor at 4 

 o'clock p. m. to visit the western end of the pass, the strong hold of 

 a gang of desperate marauders, who, during many years, issued thence 

 to commit highway robbery and murder, maiming those whom they 

 thought friendly to Government; the wild imperviousness of the place, 

 rendering it almost unassailable by regular forces. 



Close to Neemgaum is a hill about 1000 feet above the plain, covered 

 on all sides to the summit with thick jungle, and almost inaccessible. 

 Only a few masses of rock, are seen on the sides and at the top. At 



