On the Geology, &c. &c. of Hunumkoondah (H. H. the Nizam's Territory) by DR. WALKER, Madras Army, continued.

The route from Hunumkoondah to Pakhall, lies almost due east. The intervening country is on the whole less hilly than that left behind as far as this place, when a chain of low flattened hills, covered with trees, and shrubs, is observed to extend in a direction from N to S, and is lost in the horizon at both points. The black soil becomes more abundant, no longer occupying mere patches, but forming tracts of considerable extent, and here it may be noted that to an eye at all accustomed to observe this country with reference to its vegetation, an open treeless plain suggests at once the prevalence of the regur soil; for with the exception of the Butea Frondosa (Palas), which here, and there appears, there is scarce a tree that affects it, while on the red soils care and industry can alone prevent high jungle from springing up. The granite continues the only surface rock until Sarapore, near which there is an out cropping of sandstone, granite however, re-appears, and may be observed near the road leading from that village to the lake at the crossing of the first stream, but in this neighbourhood it is soon lost in sandstone, which as far as I have remarked forms the masses composing the hills abovementioned. This rock is of various degrees of hardness; it is sometimes of such a dense crystalline structure, as to possess the qualities and appearance of quartz rock; at others the arenaceous form is distinctly visible; the stratification also is of great variety; at certain points the layers are so thick, massive, and irregular, as to resemble unstratified rock; at others the strata are not thicker than a quarter of an inch, and are disposed in parallel layers. This last appearance is particularly well marked at the Chubootra of Shetab Khan, where the rock looks more like a schist than a sandstone. No specimen I have yet met with of the rock effervesces with acids, and the only earthy minerals that it appears to contain are fragments of red jasper, and chalcedony approaching to flint. I have not seen these in situs, but think it probable that they form with the rock a conglomerate. Dr. Voysey speaking of the sandstone rock of the Nizam's territory states'in no instance have I seen the sandstone stratified,' by which it is clear he could not have been at this place; it is likely that beds of oxydulous iron are to be met with here; I draw this conclusion from the fact of the sandstone being in some cases distinctly encrusted with thin layers of this mineral, and also from the point of junction of two rocks being the locality where metallic minerals are most frequently met with. This

Pakhall tank (for the name of lake, is scarcely in accordance with its artificial embankment) is a fine sheet of water, and takes precedence of all the tanks in Telingana, both as to depth and extent of surface. It is at least thirty miles in circuit when quite full, and besides affording a deep and copious stream for the purposes of irrigation, sends a tributary to the Kistnah, which even at this season of the year merits the name of a small river; it is bounded on three sides by low hills covered with wood, and although the vegetation is now, parched and burnt up, picturesque beauty is by no means wanting to the landscape; immediately after the rains it is quite conceivable that it may vie in scenery with the better known and much lauded Italian Lakes; considering its extent, its value is small, for its whole circumference to some depth is occupied by a dense jungle, and fifteen hundred bigahs under cultivation from its irrigation are but slender tribute to the chief of tanks; the situation is said to be unhealthy, for at least eight months of the year, which may account in part for its thinly peopled neighbourhood.

The draught and carriage bullocks met with appear strong and hardy ; they are not equal in symmetry or size to those of Guzerat, or the Ellichpore part of Berar, but very similar to the Malwah animal, to the strength and vigour of which they probably come up; they are usually of a white colour, and are much sought after by the Bunjarries. The method of breeding and rearing these animals would be deemed singularly judicious, did not the necessity of the care, which forces the proprietors into the best mode of management, take from it all merit. The cows from which they are bred are allowed to roam about the jungles in a half wild state, with a few keepers nearly as wild as themselves to tend and occasionally milk them. These possess many of the habits of the wild cattle of South America, and also of the remnants of that aboriginal race still kept in a few British preserves, such as combining for mutual defence, and attacking by the whole herd rushing on in a body; they guide rather than follow their herdsmen, who wisely enough suffer them to choose their pasture ground by that instinct which domestication blunts without annihilating. In a dry year they congregate in great numbers around this tank, from all parts of the country, during the months of April and May, for the pasturage which at that period in the less extensive jungles fails them.

It is evident that no better means could be devised for keeping up a vigorous and serviceable race of bullocks than this treatment of the

COWS.

In addition to the cultivated plants mentioned in my first letter a small quantity of sugar-cane has been lately added to the list, and with some success; it is unnecessary to say that the expression and boiling of the juice are conducted in the same manner that these operations are performed throughout India from the Himalaya to the Cape Comorin, and that the compound of sugar, molasses, earthy matter and other impurities,' called goor is the result. A Sugar Mill, wood, carpenter's work and all costs from five to six rupers. The fixed state of the industry of Asiatics cannot find a more fit illustration than in the management of their Sugar Cane. For at least two thousand years, for of that period we have record, that the same rough process has been gone through, the same amount of labour wasted rather than expended, and the step beyond their rude and economical preparation of sugar-candy (in which they have been completely distanced by the Chinese), has never been thought of. A follower of the School of Madame de Stael, who apportioned invention and suggestion to certain parallels of latitude, and improvement, and perfection without discovery to others, would point to the history of the manufacture of this necessary springing up in the South, but perfected by Northern skill as proof of their theory: but another estimate would refer this backwardness to improvement on the part of the Asiatic to that ever enduring insecurity of property which has taken from capital nearly all its power to stimulate or reward industry, from combination all its force, and from skill every disposition to suggest, far less improve.

It would be wandering far from the subject to enquire how this insecurity arose, and how it has been perpetuated, but deficiency of moral, much rather than intellectual energy has been at its root and accompanied its growth.

A very common plant grows on the black soil, chiefly in the jowarrie fields, the Croton plicatum mistaken by Burman, for the Croton tinctorium of the South of Europe, which plant it greatly resembles in properties and appearance. The Croton tinctorium, is cultivated in the South of France for its dye, the litmus or turnsole as it used to be called. Drs. Ainslie and Roxburgh have both suggested the employment of the Croton plicatum for this purpose; acting on their opinion, I have extracted, by a simple infusion from the capsules of the plant, a dye having the peculiar properties of litmus, but have failed in purifying it from the extraneous substances contained in the aqueous solution. This is commonly done in Europe by fermentation and by admixture of some alkali, or alkaline earth, by which the blue violet, its peculiar colour, is maintained, but these means will not answer in a tropical country, where the great heat

causes the infusion to pass almost at once to the putrefactive fermentation, whereby the colour is vitiated or altogether discharged, a thing not likely to occur in the more temperate climate of Europe. I see that the same vitiation of colour of the Himalaya Archil, a litmus lichen, is complained of in the transactions of the last meeting of the AgriHorticultural Society of Bengal, and I would recommend that a sufficient quantity of capsules of this plant (which I can readily supply) be sent to England there to be tested by superior Art, and under the more advantageous circumstance of a cooler temperature. The natives regard the plant as completely useless, and are even ignorant that the juice of the capsules gives a blue stain to cloth; I shall now give some account of the more useful trees and shrubs, all of which are found growing in the neighbouring jungles.

Caryota Urens. This stately palm is indigenous to these jungles, but from all I could hear is not to be met with in great abundance.

The soil would appear to suit it well, as one specimen I saw grew at least to the height of 60 feet. This is the sago palm of the interior as the other species which yield that article are either insular, or coast productions, which would in all probability perish if transplanted from the soil and climate they most affect. To those who have witnessed or even heard of the dreadful and unavoidable calamity of famine to which every well peopled tropical region is subject, any suggestion by which the horrors of that scourge may be averted or even mitiga ted must prove acceptable; a feasible means of doing this would appear to exist in propagating and carefully preserving these sago trees, and I cannot conceive a fitter purpose for the almost useless waters of this splendid tank, than their contributing to the inestimable end; for a preserve of these palms in its neighbourhood would not only be secured in a never failing supply of water, but the tree jungle with which it is surrounded would afford shade to the young plants, which, from the situation that they are found wild in, would seem requisite. Far be from me the wish to see a race of men palmivorous, for lotophagi and anthropophagi notwithstanding all that the poets have sung of the golden age, may on most occasions be made convertible terms without any violation of the truth, but the very nature of things precludes the supposition of the natives of India ever becoming so, as much as it does our painting ourselves with wood or worshipping the mistletoe. As to the fitness of the food for the support of life during famine, I subjoin the statement of Dr. Roxburgh, who must have been an eye witness of the facts related. The pith or farinaceous part of the trunk of old trees, is said to be equal to the