86 



Report on the Mackenzie Manuscripts. 



hardly an}^ rock Avliich does not contain more silex than any tiling else. 

 Among the conflicting definitions of writers, it will be easily seen that 

 the term silicious schist or flinty slate is intended to distinguish a tough 

 and hard silicious variety of argillaceous slate, and therefore it will be a 

 silicious schistous rock, containing alumina and iron, while hornstone is 

 almost pure silex. The rock w^hich Dr. Benza calls silicious schist, is 

 almost pure silex, is not at all schistous, contains no iron, and no 

 alumina, and instead of being dark coh)ured, Dr. Benza himself — 

 Journal 12, page 20 — compares it with the eurite of Pallieondah hill. 

 The schis'ous character alluded to by the Editor in his remarks arises 

 from the small ness of the s})ecimen. The rock is massive, and in beds 

 of irregular thickness embedded in friable gneiss, as Dr. Benza correctly 

 describes ihem; but the masses are divided by a series of irregular joints, 

 which sometimes meet at an angle of about 60 degrees, and it is the flat 

 surfaces produced by tiiese joints that have been mistaken for a schist- 

 ous structure. This separation by joints, dividing the most friable 

 rocks into fl it surfaces, as smooth as if cut by a knife, the planes of 

 which divisions are at irregular angles with each other, is a peculiarity 

 in Indmn rotks which I have neglected to allude to, and have not space 

 to describe, but which I have never seen alluded to by observers.* 



Vr. — Sixth Report of progress made in the Eocamination of the 

 Mackenzie MSS., with an AhstractAccount of the PTork^- examined, — 

 JBy the Rev. William Taylor. (Continued from last No.) 



A.— TAMIL. 



«. Palm-leaf manuscripts. 



1. Brahm6(tara'cdndam~ihe concluding section of the Brahma^ 

 puranam, ho. 10— Countermark 16. 



Invocation to gods, and poets. The subject of this purana was deli- 

 vered by Fyasa to Suta, and by the latter to the rishis in the Naimi- 

 sara-vanam. Some notice of that vanam. At the request of the rishis 

 the said Suta narrated a variety of matters connected with the Saiva 

 system. 1.— The five letters. These are a symbol of the deity; 

 securing the greatest benefiis from the repetition of the formule. Illus- 

 trated from the story of a king of Maehura. 2— The excellency of 

 Saiva shrines. Illustrated by the story of a king of Ayodhya, who was 

 * See note at the end of this Journal.— Editob. 



