60 



On the Fossils of the Eastern Portion 



itself into the Bay of Bengal, not far south of ihe Delta of the Ganges. 



The Nerbudda, which flows in an opposite direction, is more interest- 

 ing in a political and geological point of view ; and the extensive countries 

 through which it passes have been more carefully investigated than any 

 other part of the Peninsula. This river takes its rise to the west of 

 Amerkantack, and traversing a country of granite, sandstone, and basalt, 

 abounding in iron and the finest dolomitic marbles, reaches the Indian 

 Ocean through the alluvial plains of Guzerat. At Jabulpoor and in the 

 neighbourhood of Saugur, fossil mammalia, shells, and silicified palms 

 have been recently discovered. Fossil shells have also been found in 

 some of the trap hills, which have broken up the sandstone near the 

 sources of the Taptee. This river is separated from the Nerbudda by a 

 range of basaltic mountains ; and havh)g the same direction as the Ner- 

 budda, its whole course appears to be in the basaltic formation. (See 

 N, W. corner of Map). 



All the other great rivers of the Peninsula, including the Godavery, 

 Kistnah, Pennar, and Cauvary issue from the western Ghats, from the 

 summits of which the country slopes gradually to the east, exe pt at the 

 extreme south, where the descent to the plains of the Carnatic is consi- 

 derable and precipitous. 



The Godavery (see Map,) rises in the basaltic region described 

 by Colonel Sykes, (Geol. l>ans. vol. IV pt. 2, 1»36) and, great- 

 ly increased in size, it enters the granitic table land of the Deckan, and 

 flows at the southern foot of the Sichel Mountains into a sandstone 

 and argillaceous limestone country. This district is similar to that of 

 Bundlecund and Maiwa ; it also contains diamonds, and has been much 

 broken up by erupted rocks. From the north, the Godavery derives 

 large supplies of water from the great rivers rising south of the Nerbudda 

 and the Taptee, in basaltic tracts, the soil of which being retentive of 

 moisture, the water is everywhere near the surface. From the south it 

 receives only the Munjerah river, which, flowing through arid granitic 

 plains, furnishes but a scanty addition of water, except during the rainy 

 season. Through a pass in the gneiss mountain of Papconduh it enters 

 the plains of the Coromandel coast. In this district the sandstone re- 

 appears, at an elevation little above that of the sea ; but basaltic hills, 

 several hundred feet in height, in which marine fossils have recently 

 been discovered, exist almost within the delta formed by its sediment. 



The Kistnah derives its waters from a number of considerable rivers, 

 rising in the basaltic and gneiss summits of the western Ghats, which 

 condense the greater part of the clouds carried by the south-west mon- 

 soon from the Indian Ocean. Flowing through the territories of the 



