380 



Mr. James Bird on the Country 



[Oct. 



Amy gdaloidal pieces of broken basalt may be found on the surface of 

 their greatest ascents, and numerous springs of good water are seen 

 percolating through the amygdaloid rock composing the interior of 

 the hills. The small streams flowing from thence, when obstructed 

 in their course, form bogs, where a continued annual production and 

 decay of water-plants causes an accumulation of the soil. 



But in situations where the water is in sufficient quantity to reach 

 the hollows and lower grounds, it is then retained by means of a bund 

 or dam, in order that the field may be cultivated with rice. The soil of 

 these hollows is black and alluvial. 



In other places the soil of Belgaum, which is red and ferruginous, 

 proves very inimical to healthy vegetation. The mango trees, which 

 are very numerous in this vicinity, soon become dry and withered in 

 appearance, and never acquire that beautifully conical form which they 

 invariably assume in a more favourable and natural bed. The country 

 for many miles to the north-east, is composed of marshy ground, and 

 is cultivated in the monsoon with rice, and in the cold season with 

 harbarri. 



From the village of Chota Bagwari, fourteen miles beyond Bel- 

 gaum, the red ferruginous soil may be found at the base of the moun- 

 tain ridges until we reach Kittor, where the hills have flat tops, and 

 are covered by thick jungle instead of pasture grass, as at Belgaum. 

 They are composed of a stratified rock shewing alternate white and 

 brown stripes, of which the extraordinary magnetic property will be 

 described in the mineralogy of this part. 



Water is here less abundant in the high land than at Belgaum, but 

 is in greater quantity both in the tanks and nullas. Rice is always 

 cultivated on the low lands, and sealu is the usual product of the high- 

 er level. 



Falls of Gokauk. — This cataract, which is formed by the stream 

 of the Ghatparba river, passing over a perpendicular quartz rock 

 of a hundred and seventy-six feet, receives its name from the old fort 

 of Gokauk, now in ruins. From this- it is distant about two miles ; 

 is nearly ten miles east of the town of Padshapur, and about a 

 mile from the village of Kanur. The Ghatparba here flowing east- 

 south-east, not finding a passage north-eastwards through the body 

 of the quartz sandstone hills of Padshapur, has forced itself in a 

 southern direction, and passes into an extensive plain of which the 

 declination is southerly. 



In the dry season the body of water forming the fall is not very 



