1837.] 



through the Northern Circars. 



65 



Some of the spurs of both mountains extend more than others into 

 the little flat, the pass contracting in those places. In these narrow- 

 spots the gang awaited their^victims ; and, in such inaccessible positions, 

 a few persons could defy all troops opposed to them. Besides their 

 natural strength these places were guarded by parapets of mud, with a 

 ditch behind them, extending from one to the other, leaving only a very 

 narrow space for passengers. Even this precaution did not appear to 

 them sufficient security. They piled up entire trunks of trees and 

 brambles on the summit of this imbankment, rendering it nearly im- 

 pregnable. Two or three of these trenches extended from one extremi- 

 ty of the pass to the other. After having resisted several years, the 

 present government put a stop to the iniquities committed by this gang. 



The officers sent against them, got information of an intricate by- 

 path, full of dangers, on account of the numerous wild animals and the 

 probability of being lost in the jungle. But, English bravery is not 

 easily daunted by difficulties, and in the night the guides succeeded in 

 conducting safely the attacking party to the rear of the enemy. The 

 success was complete; the military entered the marauders' villages, set 

 fire to them, and the conflagration of their homes was the first intimation 

 they had of their being surrounded. Of course, they had recourse 

 to the sauve qui peat, and scrambled up the hills. Some were taken, 

 others killed ; it ended in the total destruction of this abominable nest 

 of villains. This pass, after the extinction of the gang, was cleared, 

 and a spacious road formed, flanked by several hundred yards of clear 

 ground. > 



We have said, that the hills of this pass are porphyritic to the north, 

 granitic, to the south. A mile or two from the eastern end, a dyke of 

 basaltic hornblende is seen (No. 55), flanked to the west by projecting 

 masses of porphyry ; it is of moderate thickness, and many hundred 

 yards long; some of the exposed blocks have a cavernous or amygda- 

 loidal structure. Further on, at a little distance from the road (S.), 

 I saw another dyke of the same trap, capped by a stratified rock, seem- 

 ingly gneiss. 



After passing these dykes, all the hills and knolls to the left w-ere of 

 the already described porphyry, and those to the right, granitic. Only- 

 one hill, aboi^t four miles before reaching this place, is of a different 

 composition. Its lower part was porphyritic granite, the crystals of 

 felspar being neither so large, nor so well defined, as in the porphyry 

 of the pass, but yet the rock was unstratified, in immense masses, ex- 

 foliating concentrically. This granite is overlaid by gneiss, resembling 

 that of Kimidy, with a profusion of amorphous garnets. 



In the brief manner these cursory notes permit, we may draw the 

 following conclusions, with regard to the geological features of this 

 noted pass. The hills, which confine it to the north, are porphyritic 



