210 



Notes of an excursion along [no. 6, new series, 



visit Eliza's tomb, under the idea that the defunct lady reposes in 

 the spot of her birth, but alas for the disappointed pilgrim, Eliza 

 enjoys a marble monument in a church in Bristol, far from the 

 land of her nativity. 



A few miles beyond Anjengo the water communication ceases. 

 A strip of elevated land about six miles in breadth runs out to the 

 Coast, ending in an abrupt cliff of laterite about 250 feet in height. 

 Travellers land at a small village called Coletotum, where bearers are 

 in readiness to carry them to the opposite side where the back-water 

 is again reached. The road used is partly the sea beach itself, and 

 partly the summit of the cliff in land. About a quarter of a mile from 

 Coletotum there is a Bungalow situated on the cliffs built by the 

 Sircar for the accommodation of Travellers and from this spot the 

 view is extremely beautiful. To the Eastward rises the magnifi- 

 cent line of Ghauts, to the South are the windings of the Back- 

 water' dotted occasionally with small Islands whose banks are 

 adorned with thick groves of the Cocoa Palm, Mango, Jack tree, 

 and other features of oriental scenery. The whole landscape is 

 peculiarly striking and picturesque. To the west is the sea-board 

 stretching from Quilon on one side to the low cliffs beyond Tre- 

 vandrum on the other. I have said before that the cliffs here are 

 composed chiefly of laterite and are known as the Verkullay cliffs. 

 Immediately below the laterite formation of the surface are seen a 

 series of various coloured clays and sandstones, and below them 

 again a remarkable deposit of lignite which crops out in hori- 

 zontal seams of some extent the base being washed by the breakers* 

 This latter deposit extends for many miles along the coast being 

 found at Cannanore, Mangalore, and other places.* It can be ap- 

 plied to no use as a fuel though of vegetable origin. Below the 

 lignite some specimens of fossil limestone have been discovered 

 by General Cullen. In several places, the laterite here assumes 

 many curious forms having all the appearance of fossils, both animal 

 and vegetable. It has not however, yet been proved that laterite 

 is a fossiliferous deposit, and some persons are inclined to think that 

 the result arises from the action of the rains on a clay highly im- 



* A notice of this lignite from the pen of the late Capt, Newbold will be found 

 in Vol. xi. p. 239, of this Journal— Ed. M. J. 



