28 
A JOURNEY FROM MADRAS THROUGH 
CHAPTER 
I. 
Appearance 
of the coun- 
try above the 
Ghats. 
Pedda Naie- 
kanu Durga. 
which are in the most perfect state of preservation, withoiit the 
smallest mark of decay, and fit for forming the most durable build- 
ings. Mr. Fichtel, who has beeniso kind as to look over my speci- 
mens, and to assist me with his opinion concerning their nature, 
thinks, that the stone of Mahabalipura consists of a mixture of arid 
and of fat quartz; and, although he calls the stone of the Ghats 
granite, I have no doubt of its component parts being the same 
with those of the Mahabalipura stone. 
Both these rocks appear to be stratified; but the strata are 
wonderfully broken, and confused. In some places they are almost 
horizontal, in others they are vertical, with all intermediate de- 
grees of inclination.- Sometimes the decaying stratum lies above 
the perfect, and at other times is covered by it. I saw man}^ strata 
not above three feet wide; while in other masses, of eight or ten 
feet high, and many long, I could perceive no division.* 
Immersed in both kinds, I observed many nodules, as large as 
the head, which were composed of a decaying substance containing 
much green mica? In other places there are large veins, and beds, 
containing small rhomboidal masses, of what Mr. Fichtel takes to 
be a composition of a small proportion of quartz with much iron. 
The country about Naiekan Eray rises into swells, like the land 
in many parts of England, and is overlooked by the high barren 
peaks of the Ghats, which close the view to the eastward. Among 
these peaks, the most remarkable is that occupied by Pedda Naie- 
kana Durga, or the Great Chiefs castle, which, till the overthrow of 
the late Sultan, was a frontier garrison of the Mysoor kingdom. 
It formerly belonged to a Polygar, called the Pedda Naieka , who 
was restored by Lord Cornwallis ; but obliged again to leave his 
dominions, after his Lordship granted peace to Tippoo. During the 
remainder of the Sultan's reign, he continued to harass the coun- 
try in nocturnal predatory excursions; but is now quietly waiting 
for the decision of the British government concerning his fate. The 
country formerly belonging to his family has, by the partition treaty 
