346 



Geology of the Deccan. 



[Oct. 



Ghats.— The Dukhun rises, by a succession of terraces or steps, very 

 abruptly from the Konkun.* Its valleys and table-lands have a mean ele- 

 vation above the sea of about 1800 feet. The Konkun is along strip of land 

 from thirty to fifty miles in breadth, lying between the ghats and the sea ; 

 the mean elevation of this strip is less than one hundred feet ; but it is 

 bristled with isolated hills, or short ranges, some of which attain an 

 elevation equalling that of the ghats. Numerous shoulders or salient 

 angles are thrown out from the ghats from the western or Konkun 

 side, and by means of these the ascent to Dukhun is effected ; with 

 what difficulty, will be understood when I state that the military road 

 of communication between Bombay and Poona, up the Bore ghat, 

 rises nearly six hundred feet in a mile. The western portion of my 

 tract along the crest of the ghats is exceedingly strong : spurs of 

 different lengths extend from the main range to the eastward and 

 south-east, leaving many narrow tortuous valleys between them, some 

 of which have the character of gigantic cracks or fissures ; other 

 valleys, although occurring less frequently, when looked at from the 

 neighbouring ranges, appear as flat and smooth as a billiard-table, 

 even to the crest of the ghats, but when traversed are found to be cut 

 up by numerous narrow and deep ravines. f Stupendous scarps, fear- 

 ful chasms, numerous waterfalls, dense forests, and perennial verdure, 

 complete the majesty and romantic interest of the vicinity of the ghats. 

 As the spurs extend to the east and south-east they diminish in height, 

 until they disappear on approaching the open plains in my eastern 

 limits, between the Beema and Seena rivers. The area of the table 

 land on their summit often exceeds that of the valley between them : 

 such is the case with the spur bordering the left bank of the Beema 

 river for forty miles from its source, occupying, in fact, the whole 

 country between the sources of the Beema and Goreh rivers. The 

 spurs are rarely tabular for their whole length, but narrow occasional- 

 ly into ridges capped with compact basalt, and subsequently expand 

 into extensive table-lands. The spur originating in the hill fort of 

 Hurreechundurghur affords a good example. The fort is about eigh- 

 teen miles in circumference : on the east it presents a salient angle to 

 the neighbouring mountain ; absolute contact, however, only com- 

 mences at about four hundred feet from the top of the scarp, leaving 



,c columnar in many places, and at Gawelghur it appears stratified; the summits of several 

 " ravines presenting a continued stratum of many thousand yards in length." — Physical 



Clo.es of the Asiatic Researches, p. 189. 



* See Plate 9. 



t The valley of the Malsej ghat, for instance. 



