4 



Hie Neilgherrij Mountains, [No. 34;, 



retiform deposits ; but I do not tliink it could be profitably worked, as 

 the continuance of a supply in a particular spot could not be de- 

 pended upon, and it could not moreover be brought into any home 

 market, at a sufficiently cheap rate to compete with other ores. 



, . .. Laterite is also found in various parts of the 



Larente. ^ 



Neilgherries, generally in an advanced stage of de- 

 composition, forming a lithomargic clay, which underlies the soil of 

 many tracts of land, I observe the existence of laterite most fre- 

 quently where the sienite contains much hornblende, which favours 

 the belief that it is the result of decomposition of the primitive rock, 

 hastened by the action of the atmosphere upon its excess of ferrugin- 

 ous matter. A bed of this rock occurs near Kaitee sufficiently indu- 

 rated to be fit for quarrying for building purposes — but no use is 

 made of it by settlers owing to its being more costly than bricks. 



- . Ores of iron are met with in many parts of the 



Ores of iron. ^ 



Neilgherries, occurring in small veins, and disse- 

 minated through the mass of the rock enclosing it, but no where (that 

 I have seen) in sufficient quantity to be worth working. 



A great many varieties of ores exist, more interesting to the mi- 

 neralogist than to the statistical recorder. 



Hematites Hematites, specular iron ore, micaceous iron ore, 



magnetic iron ore, and iron pyrites, are all found 

 in insignificant specimens. 



Pebbles of agate and semi-opal are occasionally to be met with in 

 mountain streams after heavy rain, and would, I doubt not, with co- 

 rundum, be found more abundant, if persons, who had time to bestow 

 in the pursuit, were to search for them. 



There is another mineral which occurs in some abundance on the 

 Neilgherries which might I think — especially in the hands of Euro- 

 pean settlers — be turned to some economical use. 



It is a decomposed feldspar, or " kaolin," of which very tolerable 

 earthenware might be manufactured. 



g^.j The soil of these mountains, speaking of course 



chiefly of the plateau, is for the most part ex- 

 ceedingly rich and productive, a circumstance for which the observer 

 would not be prepared on witnessing the granitic or sienitic base upon 

 which it rests ; since it is usually seen that granitic districts are 

 bleak and barren, owing to the resistance to decomposition olFered 

 by the silicious materials of which they consist. 



