1836.] 



Neelgherries and Koondahs, 



299 



«n passant, that the rocks of that epoch in Europe are all stratified, 

 which is not the case with the laterite. 



Before concluding this sketch of the geology of the Neelgherries, 

 we must not pass unnoticed the fact of the absence of all sorts of 

 calcarious formation. Even the widely spread kankar is not met with 

 on the Neelgherries, although we find this travertinic deposit at the 

 very foot of those hills, near Mateepolliam (No. 176). 



The total absence of stratified rocks, and of calcarious formations, 

 in this group, seems an additional proof of the remote period of its 

 elevation. The only stratified rock, which appears to have been depo- 

 sited near the place, through which this plateau was heaved up, is the 

 hornblende slate, which is seen both on the east and on the west sides 

 of the hills, being highly inclined, and having an opposite dip : the 

 group serving as the centre of this anticlinal line. 



On looking at the map, we see how the numerous valleys and 

 ravines have a different, and often an opposite, direction. Except three 

 or four of them, which diverge in opposite directions from a central 

 point (Doodabetta), the others are so irregular, that it is impossible to 

 refer them to one and the same cause. They certainly do not belong 

 to the class of valleys of denudation, much less to that of corrosion 

 by the streams : the volume of their waters being so very insignificant 

 and divested of pebbly or sandy detritus, which so much hastens the 

 corrosion of the rock through which the rivers pass. They probably 

 are the original consequence of the elevating force, which either irre- 

 gularly applied to the different points of the area, or the mass itself 

 yielding irregularly in different situations, gave rise to the inequality of 

 the whole surface of these hills. 



To conclude, therefore, it seems that the granitic rocks, which occu- 

 py the highest hills of this group, forced their way, and were heaved 

 up through the hornblende slate, which was in consequence distorted 

 and lifted up, as it is seen in the outskirts of the plateau, and in some of 

 the low situations among the hills themselves, (the valley S. and close 

 to Kotagherry) ; we must also conclude, that the decomposition of the 

 rock forming the red earth and the detritus, must have happened at a 

 period anterior to the existence of organic bodies ; no remains of which 

 have hitherto been found in them. 



