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GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



case in the country south-west, west, and north of the Koli- 

 mallai mountains (Kolamullays) in the south-eastern corner of 

 the Salem District, also on the southern side of the Pachmallai 

 in Trichinopoly, and again very markedly in the case of the 

 magnetic iron beds in the great valley east of Salem. These 

 latter beds can be traced (with breaks it is true) across the 

 great forest tract including the Tainandamallai and Kalroyen- 

 mallai, two considerable mountain masses, till they cross the 

 Panar and pass on into the as-yet-unsurveyed parts lying 

 within the limits of the south-west quarter of sheet 78. 



Another very interesting series of magnetic iron beds is 

 that to be seen in the Kanjamallai, a fine detached mountain 

 to the west of Salem formed by the circumdenudation of an 

 elliptical synclinal fold of the rocks. The main mass of this 

 very remarkable mountain lies outside of sheet 79, but it was 

 specially surveyed by the author and described in an 

 appendix to the memoir on that sheet. 11 



From its extremely convenient position with regard to the 

 Madras Railway, which passes within a quarter of a mile of the 

 eastern end of the mountain and the great facility by which 

 unlimited quantities of rich ore could be quarried from the 

 lowest of the three great beds which run in parallel elliptical 

 girdles round the entire length of the ridge, Kanjamallai 

 ought to supply the ore for a great iron-smelting industry 

 were it not for the absence of a suitable supply of fuel. 

 The forests of Salem District could not supply charcoal cheaply 

 enough in 1861 to let the native iron- workers compete with 

 English-made bar and rod-iron, and the Porto Novo Iron 

 Company's works at Porto Novo and Poolayamputty were 

 working at a loss and soon ceased working. At the time of 

 writing the article on Kanjamallai, just referred to, the author 



11 On parts of the district of Salem, Trichinopoly, South Arcot, and 

 Tanj ore.— Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, vol. iv, part 2. 



