PART 2 .] 
Medlicott: Scindia’s Territories. 
55 
150 to 200 feet. To attempt to raise water from a greater depth would probably jnvolve 
greater expense than the value of the water for irrigation would cover. It would be well to 
make borings along lines, and at a fixed distance apart, in such parts of the district as it is 
particularly desired to explore. There appears no reason for selecting' any locality in 
particular, for, as I have above shown, the probability appears to me that sweet water will 
not be found, at all events not as a general rule; at the same time, the matter is of such 
importance that the trifling cost of a few borings would be fully justified in order to obtain 
certain information, for, after all, the opinion given above is based upon very imperfect 
information. 
When borings are made the water from every water-bearing stratum traversed should 
be separately tested, and, at all events, the quantity of salts in solution ascertained by 
evaporating to dryness, care being taken that some water is always pumped out before 
collecting specimens for analysis. 
I would further recommend that complete quantitative analyses be made of a few of the 
Surat waters, especially of those in and near the town of Surat,* and I would also suggest 
that the water of some of the wells which are said to be gradually becoming salter be 
analysed, or, at all events, the quantity of salts in solution estimated (a very easy matter) 
from time to time. 
As already pointed out, common salt is by no means the only impurity present in con¬ 
siderable quantities in the well water of Surat, and other salts may be equally deleterious 
both to human health and to vegetation, although their presence is not so easily detected by 
the taste of the water. It is useless, without more exact information as to the nature and 
quantity of these salts, to attempt to trace their origin; some have, in all probability, been 
derived, like the common salt, from the sea; others from the decomposition of the materials 
forming the alluvial strata. 
II th January 1875. 
Sketch of the Geology of Scindia’s Territories, ly H. B. Medlicott, a. m.,f. a. s., 
Deputy Superintendent, Geological Survey of India. 
Scindia’s possessions are so scattered, that any connected physical description of them 
Configuration must include much adjoining ground. The extent and uniformity 
of the natural features further involve this comprehensiveness, 
so that the following notice of the geology of the region comprises much of Holkar's territory, 
all of Bhopal and of the British district of Sugar, all of Kotah, a great part of Bundi, besides 
some other petty States of llajputana. All this ground belongs to the Yindhyan plateau, 
defined on the south-south-east by the Yindhyan range overlooking the Narbada valley, on 
the north-east by a scarp overlooking Bandelkand, and on the north-west by cliffod ranges 
facing Rajputdna. Although its limits are so well defined, the character of this area as a 
single plateau is not well marked. The entire drainage is from the southern edge, the crest 
of the Yindhyan range; and in their progress to the Jamna the rivers have formed deep and 
wide valleys, so that a very large area of the so-called plateau consists of plains but little 
raised above the level of the country to the east and west: still the plateau form is every¬ 
where maintained; the smallest elevations are little table-lands or terraces. 
* It should be borne in mind that the greatest; care is necessary in collecting samples of water for analyses; such 
samples Bhould be taken by a responsible officer personally, never on any account by a native servant or sub¬ 
ordinate, and both bottles and corks must be perfectly clean Unless these precautions arc taken, the analyses when 
made will be useless. 
