THE INDIA REVIEW 
OF WORKS ON SCIENCE, 
AND 
JOURNAL OF FOREIGN SCIENCE AND THE ARTS 
EMBRACING 
MINERALOGY, GEOLOGY, NATURAL HISTORY, PHYSICS, Ac. 
REVIEW. 
Memoir on the Geology of the Neelgherry 
and Koondah Mountains. By P. M. 
Benza, Esa. M. D. of the Madras 
Medical Establishment. 
On the Granitic Formation, and direc- 
tion of the Primary Mountain Chains, 
of Southern India. By Captain 
James Allardyce, 23c? Regiment 
Madras Native Infantry. 
On the Tree which produces the Gam- 
boge of Commerce. By R. Wight, 
Esq., M, D . — Madras Journal of Li- 
terature and Science, October, 1836. 
We have just received two numbers of 
this valuable periodical : they contain matter 
of deep interest to the scientific reader and 
afford striking proof that science is making 
rapid strides in India. Dr. Benza’ s memoir 
on the geology of the Neelgherry and Koon- 
dah mountains contains matter of con- 
siderable importance, of which we proceed 
to give an outline. It opens with a de- 
scription of the group of hills, called Neel- 
gherries, and considered as the southern 
termination of the western Ghauts, which at 
this place end in abrupt, lofty, and almost 
vertical precipices ; the extensive valley of 
Coimbatore dividing them from the Paul- 
ghaut chain, which, following the same 
direction as the Ghauts, extends down to 
Cape Comorin. 
The Neelgherries form an elevated pla- 
teau, projecting in an easterly direction, from 
the line of the Ghauts, in the form of a 
triangle, the base of which is the continua- 
tion of the Ghauts themselves. 
They rise abruptly from the table-land of 
Mysore, in stupendous cliffs, with an ele- 
vation of many thousand feet. Two rivers 
encircle them, as it were, running round 
their base. The Bowany river, rising in the 
western side of the Koondah and among 
the hills of that group, runs in an east- 
erly direction along the foot of the outside 
of the Neelgherries, and, just below the apex 
of the triangle, it is joined by the Moyar, 
which, together with the Pykarra, having 
their origin in the Neddiwattum range pre- 
cisely opposite the sources of the Bowany, 
and making a sharp curve after leaving the 
hills, runs an easterly course, joining the 
Bowany at Danikancottah, and under that 
name, after running about thirty miles, they 
discharge their waters into the Cauvery. 
The Neelgherries*, being the highest hills 
in the whole of the peninsula, south of the 
Himalaya, possess a greater degree of geo- 
* “ The Neelgherry Hills are situated be- 
tween the parallels of 11'’ 10' and 11® 32' N. 
latitude, and 76'’ 59' and '37® 31’ E. longitude 
from Greenwich ; their gr^^atest extent in an 
oblique direction, from S. W. to N. E. is from 
38 to 40 miles, and their extreme breadth 15; 
taking in account the great undulations of the 
surface, and the breadth above stated being 
pretty constant throughout, their superficial 
extent may be fairly estimated at from 6 to 
700 square geographical miles,”— JSatArie’i Ob- 
serrations an the Neelgherries. 
