1837.] 



Geology of the Deccan. 



367 



the peninsula of India of those singular phenomena, the satisfactory 

 explanation of the causes of which is still a desideratum in geology.* 



Craters. —Volcanic products were not seen by me, nor any conforma- 

 tion of the hills that might be deemed an extinct crater ; although the 

 porcelain and ferruginous clays, and the exterior coat of the various 

 quar^; and jasper minerals indicate their having been exposed to igne- 

 ous action. Captain Dangerfield did not meet with volcanic matters or 

 craters in Malwa or the Vindhya range, but states a tradition exists of 

 the celebrated city of Oogein, and eighty other places having been 

 destroyed at a remote period by a shower of earth ; and the 

 people say that in the Vindhya range and Rajpeeply hills there 

 are hollows near their summits " sometimes filled with water, which 

 may be craters." t As the old city of Oogein stood upon a river con- 

 stantly overflowing its banks, it was probably buried in alluvium. Mr. 

 W. Hunter attributed its destruction to one of three causes, — earth- 

 quake, overflowing of the Seeprah, or drift earth by high winds ; and, 

 although the least probable of the three, inclines to drift earth. He 

 states there are not any traces of volcanic agency in the buried city, 

 nor in the neighbourhood.^ The remains of the city of Mhysir, on the 

 banks of the Nerbuddeh (Nermada), are found in alluvium. We may 

 safely say, therefore, there are not any indications of volcanic action of 

 a comparatively recent date.§ 



* See Mr. iftalcolmson's account of the thermal springs of Kair, in No. 12 of this 

 Journal, p. 212.— Editor Madras Journal. 



f Malcolm's Central India, Appendix, p. 325. % Asiatic Researches, vol. vi. p. 39. 



\ The great lake of Lonar seems to possess the characters of a volcanic crater, ac- 

 cording to the following account by Mr. Malcolmson : 



" The Lonar lake is forty miles from Jaulnah. It is a vast crater nearly 500 feet deep, 

 and four or five miles round on the upper margin. Its waters are green and bitter, su- 

 persaturated with alkaline carbonate, and containing silex in solution as well as some 

 iron. The mud is black and abounded with sulphuretted hydrogen, but the water is 

 pure and without smell. The rocks are volcanic, and springs of pure water rise out of 

 the salt mud or stream down the sides of the punch bowl, thus strangely sunk in a near- 

 ly level country, there being but a gentle rise to the edge. The crystals of salt found at 

 the bottom by the divers who remove it for purposes of commerce are tabular. Between 

 this and the hot springs of Kair others are found, and the direction of the range corres- 

 ponds with the dykes described by Voysey in the Hyderabad country."— Journal of 

 Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. 3d, p. 302. 



A particular account of this very remarkable place, with specimens of the mineral pro- 

 ductions of the vicinity, and of the water of the lake and its saline and other contents, 

 would be very acceptable.— Editor Madras Journal, 



