335 
tf the Country between Tel lie berry and Madras . 
eartliy fractured rock. When the surrounding matrix decomposes, 
which it does more readily than these contained masses, they be- 
come exposed on the surface of the ground, retaining more or less 
the shape they had taken when imbedded, and rounded more or 
less by weather. They seem all to have a tendency to split in con- 
centric layers, but are exceedingly tough. They are the masses I 
have mentioned as basalt in former journeys. I remember to have 
seen at one corner near the base of the upright obelisk called 
Cleopatra’s needle, an imbedded portion of black rock of the kind 
I am now describing : perhaps they are common in sienitic rocks ; 
they certainly are so in India. This black stone is that used by the 
natives in all the finer kinds of sculpture : all their idols are carved 
in it, the most beautiful of the stone ornaments at Congeveram, and 
the pillars forming the verandah of Tippoo’s tomb at Seringapataim 
From the peculiarly sharp and unbroken edge of its angles, its dura- 
bility and hardness, it is well adapted to sculpture. The natives 
sometimes give it a high polish, and greatly increase its blackness by 
oil. The country as you proceed from Colar is open, and only 
here and there a few rocks are seen above the surface : these seem 
more compact and less veined as we advance, which is proved by 
the few stones and fragments covering the ground. The dark rock 
especially is close grained. The rocks however do not otherwise 
differ in their nature. Low mountains are seen in front, which 
stand on the borders of the eastern Ghauts. The mountains in the 
highland of Mysore are not in general very high, on the average 
perhaps not more than 700 feet. They are rugged and stony, of a 
longish form and generally barren : this applies rather to the coun- 
try east of Bangalore than to the west. They do not lie in length- 
ened ranges, 'but two or three are near each other, and then the 
land is clear between, except from low rocks here and there. These 
Yol. V. 2 u 
