25 



Account of Minerals 



[July 



89. — More compact varietj' — same formation near Firozeabad, Nizam's 

 territor}', imbedding both univalve and bi-valve shells. 



DO. — Do. do. same formation from the vicinity of Koolkondah, pre- 

 sented b}^ ray friend Lieut. Wyndham. 



91. — Do. do. pale buff coloured, imbedding numm.ulites. 



92. — Variety, whiter and more crystalline. Both the last named speci- 

 mens were found on the river bank at Onore on the Western Coast, and, 

 if credit may be attached to enquiries made on the spot, were brought 

 thither by native trading craft from the coast to the northward as bal- 

 last, Fossiliferous limestone, we know, occurs in the Kattjwar penin- 

 sula, and the island of Perim, but the natives assured me the nummuli- 

 tic limestone at Onore, was brought from places considerably to the 

 south of these places. It is possible, however, that the spot where they 

 were picked up by the native boatmen is at some distance from their 

 true situs, as all the fragments have a rolled and water-worn appearance, 

 as if they had been washed by the tidal wave on a sea coast. A piece 

 of coral rag with shells ( ostrea ) adherent, was also picked up among the 

 fragments of limestone at Onore. It w^ould be matter of some interest 

 to ascertain from the boatmen themselves, the exact localities where 

 they took in these stones as ballast. My visit to Onore was extremely 

 brief, and during the monsoon, when no boats can approach the coast, 

 and all trade by sea suspended. Kummulitic lim.estone occurs at 

 Chirra Punji. Burnes observed nummulites in the limestones of the 

 Chari range at Liseput, in Cutch. Mr. Colebrooke first brought this 

 rock to notice in 18-24. It was met with at the foot of the Kasya 

 mountains. Shell limestone, I believe, was discovered in the Madras 

 presidency by Colonel Cullen, at Paddapangallee, in the Northern Cir- 

 cars, underlying basalt, and in the Hyderabad territory, by Voysey, in 

 1819-20. Malcolmson andBenza have since added to these discoveries, 



93. — Hexahedral pyramid of adamantine spar, bluish white, from the 

 Corundum pits, in the west of Mysore near Gram. This mineral is 

 almost confined to India and China, and has been long known in the 

 former country under the term of Korund — hence its European 

 name. It i^s used principally in India, Ceylon and Arabia, for polishing 

 precious and other stones. The oriental ruby, sapphire, and topaz, 

 are varieties. Corundum occurs in Ceylon, Mysore and Cuttack ; it is 

 rare in Europe, though a sub-species, emery, is found in abundance on 

 the island of Naxos, near Smyrna and in Saxony. 



94. — Green copper ore (malachite) from the copper mountain near 

 Bellary. Before the blow-pipe, per se, it decrepitates, but finally fuses 

 into a reddish brown mass, containing a bead of pure copper. Treated 



