133 
MYSORE, CANARA, AND MALABAR. 
colour. It is, probably, rather a gneiss than a granite, as a stratified CHAPTER 
appearance may be seen in one of the specimens ; but, except in the 
rock, it is generally difficult to distinguish gneiss from granite. Ma y 20 > &Co 
At Kingalu Copalu is also found a very pretty, fine-grained gra- 
nitell, consisting of grey felspar and black mica. It is evidently of a 
slaty texture, and would be a gneiss, if it contained quartz. It is 
of the kind of stone called by Saussure Roche feuilleUe , which seems 
to be a useful distinction. 
Near the Durria Adaulat Bang, on the island of Seringapatam, are 
found nodules of a stone called Macli Cullu, which is sometimes 
used for making gun-flints ; these, however, are of a bad quality. 
Better ones, called Cheky muky , are said to be found near a village, 
called Beu Cullu, about twenty miles north and west from Serin - 
gapatam. The Madi Cullu is evidently a hornstone. 
All these stones are very hard ; yet the natives cut them into 
pillars, or flags, with tolerable facility. The same persons cut the 
stones out of the quarry, and afterwards work them up into the 
various fantastical shapes that are given to them in Hindu build- 
ings. Good workers in stone get from 40 to 50 Fanams a month 
(from about \l. 6s. 10 \d. to U. 135. 7d.). The drudgery is performed 
by common labourers. The granite may be cut by wedges in any 
direction, and to any length ; but there is always one direction, 
in which it is found to split easiest; a number of small square 
holes, about an inch and a half in diameter, and four inches deep, 
are cut in the line by which the stone is meant to be split. The 
work is performed by a small steel punch of this shape, which 
is driven in by a heavy iron mallet. When the rock or stone is 
very long, or deep, these holes must be almost contiguous ; but when 
the surface to be split , is small, they may be at considerable dis- 
tances. Blunt wedges of steel are then put in the holes, and each is 
struck upon in its turn, until the stone splits, which it does in a 
straight line to the very bottom of the mass or stratum . The surface 
is cut smooth with steel chisels, and, except in the very finest works, 
