343 



Geology of the Deccan. 



[Oct. 



frequently touch each other, leaving, at intervals, little horizontal plots, 

 of a pistol-shot in width. These plots occur in terraces, on lower le- 

 vels as they extend eastward. 



Vale of the Under. — The valley of the Under river, north-west of 

 Poona, presents a perfect contrast to the last. It is level for twenty 

 miles, running east and west to the very edge of the ghats, and a per. 

 son can stand at the head of the valley upon the brink of a scarp rising 

 almost from the Konkun. Here, at the source of the river, it is nearly 

 six miles wide. The river Under runs down the valley one hundred 

 and fifty feet below the level of the cultivated lands. 



Vale of the Baum. — The neighbouring valley of the Baum river, 

 unlike that of the Under, originates about seven miles from the crest 

 of the ghats at a spot where the mountain masses separate into two 

 spurs. Hence it continues level for fourteen miles, gradually widening 

 eastward. The Baum river, like the Under, runs at a level of one hun- 

 dred and fifty feet below the cultivated lands ; these lands, in fact, 

 being upon one terrace, the river upon a second and lower terrace. 



Vale of the Beema.— The next valley on the north is that of the 

 Beema river. The river rises on the elevated table-land above the 

 ghats, at three thousand and ninety feet, and within the first few miles it 

 •Jumbles over several terraces. The valley, for eighteen miles, is occa- 

 sionally as narrow as that of the Mota river. 



Vale of the Goreh.— Next on the north occurs the valley of the 

 Goreh river, which, from the source of the river to Munchur (twenty- 

 nine miles), is exceedingly narrow and tortuous. Here it expands in- 

 to the broad horizontal plain of Kowta, ten miles wide. 



Vale of the Malsej Ghat. — In conclusion, as a contrast to the first 

 part of the Goreh valley, I must mention the valley of the Malsej ghat, 

 on the south of the Dukhun-base of the fort of Hurreechundurghur. 

 It is several miles wide, and literally as level, even to the brink of the 

 ghats, as if smoothed by art. Many of the valleys of the ghats, par- 

 ticularly that of theMool river,from the continued scarped character of 

 the marginal mountains, and the flatness of the bottom for miles in ex- 

 tent, look like fosses to a Titan's fortress. 



If all these valleys be valleys of excavation, the present rivers could 

 scarcely produce such, were we to suppose their powers of attrition in 

 operation from the origin of things even to the end of time I 



