1836.] 



the Country between Hyderabad and Nagpur. 



203 



At Balcondah, 21 miles north of Jakrampilly, these dykes occur on 

 the large scale, and the granite is much separated into its constituent 

 parts, the felspar being of a fine red colour. Nine miles further north, 

 in the bed of the Godavery, the felspar is of a still more beautiful red 

 colour ; but good specimens could not be removed. Veins of quartz also 

 occur at Balcondah, with turbid milky spots, as if altered by heat, and 

 large imbedded crystals. 



* Sichel Hills ; locally known as the Nirmul range.— Nirmul is sur- 

 rounded by granite hills, containing much hornblendeand a little 

 schorl ; and the summits of some of them appear to resemble 

 the greenstone of Jakrampillay, but they were not examined. After 

 passing some small ranges of hills, the ascent of the Nirmul chain 

 commences five or six. miles north of the town, and the road continues 

 amongst lofty hills covered with forest, by a succession of ascents and 

 descents, for 40 miles, when it descends by the Muklegandy ghat to 

 the town of EidUbad, nearly on the level of the flat country of Berar. 



The southern ascent of Nirmul ghat, is the most deep and difficult? 

 the hills not rising in a series of terraces as they do to the north ; yet 

 it is not easy to ascertain the precise direction of the part of the hill 

 range over which this pass leads, on account of the projecting spurs 

 and low hills at their base, the thick forest with w T hich it is covered, 

 and from its having something of a curved form. The general direc- 

 tion is from W. N. W. to E. S. E., which corresponds with that of 

 the Sichel range, to which these hills belong, and which extends from 

 the great lake water of Lonar to the neighbourhood of Mungapett, where 

 the silicious fossil wood was found. On approaching the hills, the granite 

 is observed to become soft, and to decompose rapidly. In the bed of a 

 stream it has a remarkable concentric appearance, which was also ob- 

 served in the centre of the hills south of Thitnoor, where it is covered 

 by trap, on which fossils were foun 1. No schistose rock was found 

 here, but 20 miles to the east of Nirmul, and a few miles south of the 

 mountains, hornblende slate occurs on the granite, and along with it the 

 magnetic iron ore described by VovseY in the Journal of the Asiatic 

 Society, vol. II. It is not a sand, as might be inferred from his de- 

 scription; but the grains of iron are either mixed with the hornblende 

 or occur in a sandstone-looking gneiss, from which the hornblende had 

 disappeared. Specimens of the rock, which I saw dug up, and of the 

 sand formed by pounding it on protruding masses of granite, are for- 

 warded. The softer pieces were at once reduced to powder, while the 

 harder were first roasted ; and the one was then easily separated by 



* Also called " Shesha. ,T 



