1836.] the Country beticeen Hyderabad and Nagpur. 



213 



form on the weeds, which flourish in the wildest luxuriance along the 

 banks : one of these I found to be 24 feet in height. Recent shells, 

 such as now inhabit the stream, were found in many places envelopedin 

 the stone. One fine specimen of lymncea was attached to the side of 

 the rock, as if it had been arrested there by the deposit of stone around 

 it, and which has taken its shape ; its fine surface, where it adhered, 

 being that of the fresh shell ; while the coating exhibited the colour and 

 fracture of the tufa of the hillocks south of the Payngunga, and others 

 exactly similar, near the town of Kair. Roots and branches were 

 seen to lie in the deep water without a coating of stone ; but the series 

 of observations so accurately described by Mr. Lyell was completed, 

 by finding where the stream fell over some rocks, a plant still living, 

 whose roots were thickly interwoven, and the leaves on a level, and just 

 above the water, cemented into a mass of firm white tufa. 



The spray seemed, therefore, to produce the deposit more quickly \ 

 but specimens of moss growing below the water w T ere also converted 

 into sharp brittle spicuhe. 



Below, some blocks were softened, and as if in part re-dissolved. 

 Amongst the petrified plants, one tree 1| foot in diameter was seen ; 

 and also a few leaves ; but these were rare, I suppose from their rapid 

 decay and smooth surface ; one of them seemed to belong to a species 

 of lotus seen in a pool above ; and another seemed to be the leaf of aloe. 

 In some places the tufa was sandy, and in one or two slightly tinged 

 with iron ; some of it had a fine crystalline appearance, and considerable 

 hardness ; while other specimens could not be distinguished from kan- 

 kar. A tendency to the formation of a bluish white scum was observed 

 on the surface of the still water, both here and at Lingtee : a slight 

 smell resembling sulphur was also occasionally perceived ; and at the 

 latter, our people procured water of a very offensive taste, although per- 

 fectly clear, from a well which I did not see. 



The water abounds with animal life, and the banks are covered with 

 a profuse vegetation, amongst which many fine insects were seen ; and 

 in the hot season, all forms of life seem to gather round this oasis in 

 the black burned-up country around. The banks and water affording 

 so much food, vast numbers of birds of different species, game, doves, 

 kings-fishers, herons, &c. are collected together, whose habits a natu- 

 ralist might spend months in observing, without exhausting the field 

 of inquiry. 



All the springs seemed to be equally loaded with calcareous matter, 

 and similar formations by springs now closed up are seen on a rising 

 ground down the river. Here too, the globular trap again appeared on 

 the surface in several places, of small extent ; one was a little to the 

 west of the greatest formation of travertine, and another below the ford 



