1836.] 



between Madras and the Neilgherries. 



Judging from the numerous blocks of basalt, loose, and protruding 

 through the soil, and with which the water courses (where they inter- 

 sect the road) are paved, trap must be abundant in this vicinity, either 

 as dykes or as an overlaying rock (No. 61). Nevertheless, with the 

 assistance of a powerful telescope, I could not distinguish any different 

 coloured rock, either at the summit, or on the sides, of these hills. 



On approaching Arcot, the first hills we see have the appearance, cha- 

 racteristic of many others in the plains of India. They shoot up in a 

 conical form from the horizontal plain, and have the appearance of a 

 cone placed on a table. No talus round them, no rising ground, no ine- 

 qualities in the soil above them, but the line of demarcation, between 

 the foot of the hill and the plain, is sudden and decided. This appear- 

 ance is the same, when the hill has a ridgy form instead of the conical. 



The hills which succeed these have a different aspect — the first, being 

 granitic, have sharp outlines and a barren naked appearance ; the latter 

 are rounded, with very few rocks projecting, and are covered with thick 

 vegetation. Close to the road I saw some boulders of a chloritic strati- 

 fied rock, similar to that near Sautgur. 



Palliconda. — This village is beautifully situated near the confluence * 

 of two branches of the Pallar river. West of, and within a mile from, 

 the Bungalow of this place there is a ridgy hill with a N. and S. direc- 

 tion, which, in my opinion, is very interesting in a geological point of 

 view. 



In the year 1834, while halting at this place, I made an attempt to 

 ascend this hill, but I was baffled, on account of the many difficulties 

 I met at the place where I endeavoured to scale it (about the middle of 

 the ridge). 



This second time, however, having taken a good guide, I started 

 for the summit, south of the ridge on which the pigmy Pagoda, 

 dedicated to Chillima Kali, stands— and, although I succeeded in 

 reaching it, I underwent more fatigue than I had anticipated. 



There is neither road, nor even a foot path up to the summit, and the 

 guide led me scrambling along the furrows of small water courses, as 

 the only places which afforded a penetrable passage through the dense 

 shrubby jungle, rendered almost impassable by the thick and tall tufts 

 of the lemon grass. 



This ascent caused me more fatigue than I ever experienced, even in 

 ascending the summit of Vesuvius, for here I toiled an hour and an half 

 to reach the Pagoda, and there I was on the brim of the crater in three 

 quarters of an hour. 



I was quite exhausted when I reached the huge mass on which the 

 Pagoda is erected. The blocks of rock, in this place, are heaped up in 

 the greatest confusion imaginable, having betwixt theni terrific chasms, 



