1836.] 



of the Southern Mahratta Country, 



463 



All the fine plaster with which the walls of the houses are covered 

 in India, and which is so much admired by strangers, is composed of 

 a mixture of fine lime and soapstone, rubbed down with water : when 

 the plaster is nearly dry, it is rubbed over with a dry piece of soapstone, 

 which gives it a polish very much resembling that of well polished 

 marble. 



Limestone. — I have met with limestone only in the north-east parts 

 of the Darwar district. Numerous large beds of it occur about Kullad- 

 ghee and Bagulkote, where it is associated with clayslates and grey- 

 wacke. Its strata are highly inclined, and their general direction 

 appears to be north and by west, south and by east. The principal 

 colours of the limestone are yellowish grey and blue ; more rarely it 

 approaches to white. Its fracture is generally flat conchoidal. One of 

 the varieties, from near Bagulkote, answers well as a lithographic 

 stone ; for which purpose it has been used at Bombay. 



Greywacke. — This rock, as already stated, is associated with the clay- 

 slates and limestone at Kulladghee ; it also occurs in some other parts 

 of these districts. Most of the coarse grey wackes there have not the 

 hardness that usually belongs to the same rock in Britain ; but, on the 

 other hand, they partake of the loose aggregation of the clayslates 

 with which they are associated. I have met with greywacke slate on 

 the Mulperba and in the southern parts of the district. 



Gneiss. — All the transition gneiss that I have met with in the Darwar 

 district was weathered ; and, at first sight, therefore, it closely resem- 

 bled a loose sandstone. It occurs in large quantities at Dummul ; and 

 beds of it are also met with at Nurgoond associated with talc-slate. 



Quartz Rock. — Beds of quartz are found among all the other transi- 

 tion rocks in these districts ; and, in some instances, they are very- 

 large. It also occurs in all of them in the form of veins. 



In the whole of that tract of country, extending from Darwar to 

 beyond Kittore, and which is characterized by its parallel ranges of 

 hills, the quartz occurs in large beds, which are almost invariably 

 found forming the summits of these ranges. This circumstance ena- 

 bles us to account for the hills being parallel to the strata of which 

 they are composed ; and, consequently, to each other. The durable 

 nature of the beds of quartz has caused them to resist the attacks of the 

 weather, while the soft clayslates with which they are associated have 

 gradually given way. The valleys have thus been scooped out between 

 the parallel beds of quartz rock, which we find forming the summits of 

 all the hills ; their flanks and the bottoms of the valleys consisting of 

 the softer and more perishable clayslates. 



The quartz of which these beds are composed, is in general deeply 

 coloured with iron. Some varieties, however, have a grey colour, a 

 splintery fracture, and closely resemble hornstone. It has often a uni- 



