APRIL — SEPT. 1858. J 



Proceedings. 



151 



It was my intention at the time to have written a short descrip- 

 tion of the discovery, but Mr. Blanford's subsequent visit to the 

 neighbourhood led me to abandon the plan, as I felt certain that 

 his account would be in every way more trustworthy than mine, 

 from inexperience in geological description could be. 



It is a curious circumstance that a prominent rock of this nature 

 should have been passed by, for so many years unobserved. The 

 Natives knew it practically as a limestone, from the fact of their 

 using it for betel chunam, but none of the European residents, past 

 or present, seem to have had the faintest idea that marble quarries 

 of unlimited extent were to be found within 4 miles of Coimbatore, 

 and within 300 yards of the Madras Railway. 



Mr. Ross had been using the stone largely for piers and abut- 

 ments of bridges on the line of Railway previous to my superficial 

 survey of the locality and before he had asked my opinion as to its 

 nature and composition. 



Mr. Ross stated that the Masons were much pleased with the 

 stone ; it was easily quarried and the labor of pointing it contrast- 

 ed very favorably with that of the gneiss and schistose rocks in the 

 neighbourhood. 



I can corroborate all that Mr. Blanford has stated as to the eco- 

 nomic value of this crystalline limestone. I fear however, from 

 the coarse crystallization of its structure that it will be difficult to 

 work it for polished slabs. 



My friend H. E. Sullivan, Esq. has attempted to polish a few 

 specimens, but it does not work very smoothly. 



I am in hopes however that a finer grained stone may be found 

 on careful examination. 



On my first visit to the locality I picked up a fragment of white 

 marble, totally differing from the common pink and grey varieties 

 described by Mr. Blanford. 



It was very compact, and dense in structure, resembling pure 

 statuary marble, only that it had coursing through it greenish veins 

 of some talcy mineral. I have not been able to meet with this 

 variety since, but it is doubtless to be found on more careful inves- 

 tigation. 



