BY W. KING, ESQ, 



73 



west of Kistnumshettypilly, there were numerous very good 

 specimens lying scattered about in the fields, one of which 

 is a very flat oval with a beautifully sharp edge all round, 

 and seems to have been a cutting implement or a scraper. 



On the western side of the mountains I also saw many 

 traces (Mr. Foote when with me, on one occasion picked 

 up a fine weapon a mile or so west of Roodrar, and saw 

 many others) ; and I dug out in J anuary last from the bank 

 of the Madaypoor stream, near Busswapoor, two wea- 

 pons (one a very perfect spear-headed form) at 7 and 8 feet, 

 respectively, below the surface soil. These last were in 

 layers of very coarse gravel and shingle. 



As yet, I can say nothing definite about the age of these 

 implements ; but it is not a great stretch of imagination 

 to say that the men who used them must h ave lived on these 

 Nuilamullays, or their flanks, when the Koondair and Cum- 

 mum valieys were under water ; and these valleys are now, 

 as I have said already, from six to eight hundred feet above 

 the sea. 



From what I have said about the geological structure of 

 the Nullamullays it will be seen that the water supply is 

 on the whole a poor one. For some two or three months 

 after the rains, of course, there is plenty of water ; but after 

 that it gradually disappears, and only reappears at rare inter- 

 vals, when small streams flow for some distance down a few 

 valleys and ravines ; and these are generally at outcrops 

 of the quartzite, above which are more or fewer series of 

 slates. Most of the watering places will be found noticed 

 in the second part of this paper ; but I have no doubt that 

 wells might be sunk with advantage in many places, par- 

 ticularly wherever there is a synclinal, or hollow saddle of 

 undulation, among the beds of rock. 



The western base of the hills is also peculiar in having four 

 or five localities whence issue springs of slightly tepid water . 



