•Buchanan’s journey through

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cult to determine the fpecies. Some appeared to be the fame with the quartz, impreg-nated with hornblende, that is found in the weftern Ghats. The layers or plates are ingeneral very thin. There are no veins of quartz ; but many of the ftrata, or ratherthin plates, of which united the ftrata are compofed, are fat quartz. Thefe ftrata, orbeds of quartz, are from a quarter of an inch to two feet in thicknefs, and are oftenftained of a livid colour, which I have nowhere elfe obferved.

The talcofe argillite of Heriuru is here very common,,and paffes at times entirely intopure argillite, like the flate ufed for the roofs of houfes. The tranfitions from the oneftone to the other are fo gradual, that it would be difficult to fay where the one ends,

. and the other begins. The flate here is grey, blue, and purple. All that I faw,being near the furface, was in a ftate of decay, and therefore ufelefs ; but that is thecafe on the furface of the belt flate quarries in Scotland .

3d May. — I went three .fhort coffes to Chica-bayli-caray; that is, the little hedge-tank.

4th May.—I went one cofs fouth, to fee the mine at Cudera Canavay ; and havingexamined it, I returned to Chica-bayli-caray. The road paffes through a valley fur-rounded by low hills, and about half way there is a fortified village. At the bottom ofthe hill on which the mine is, there is a plain of a veiy good foil, which would be themod proper place of refidence for the fmelters.

On the road I met with an image of Hanumanta, going on an annual vifit that hemakes to his mafter at a temple called Ramefwara. From the neighbouring villageshe was attended by all the better fort of inhabitants, male and female, young and old;the Sivabhactars excepted, who abominate both this idol, and that of his mafter, Vifhnu.The people compofing the train of the god were very irregular and diforderly; butthey had collected together a number of flags, and infignia of honour, with every thingthat could be found in the country capable of making a noife. The men who carriedthe idol faid, that the god would reft himfelf at a mandapam near Ramefwara, andallow his followers toaflemble, and form themfelves into fome order; after which."he would vifit the image of Rama ; and having returned to the mandapam, he would■fit in ftate, while for his amufement the people played before this building. The Brah-mans would then fell them fome victuals, which were confecrated by having beendrefifed in the temple, and offered to the god with the proper incantations (mantrams).'Having feafted on thefe, the image would return to his own temple, attended as on hisoutfet. This is what is called a jatram ; and had the image been that of one of the.great gods, it would have been carried in a rath, or chariot; but for Hanumanta a litteriis fufficient.

Cudera Canavay, or the .horfe-hill, is a hummock about a hundred and fifty feet in'perpendicular height. The north end is fteepeft, the Hope toward the fouth being•gentle. The eaft and weft fides alfo are pretty fteep. The natives fay, that Doray-guda is about ten coffes to the fouth-eaft, and that there is a continued ridge of lowhills extending the whole way between the two mines ; but none of them contain ore.

The furface of Cudera Canavay is fmooth, and is not interrupted by rocks.The foil is a poor red earth. I faw only one lump of haematites; and that, whencompared with the fine maffes lying on the furface of Doray-guda, is very poor andIll-formed. The whole extent of the hill is not great, and the miners have con-tented themfelves with digging the ore from the furface of the hill near its fummit.No fliaft nor pit having been made, ^ cannot form any eftimate of the quantityof ore remaining. The mine appears to be much richer than that of Doray ; forthe quantity of barren ftone intermixed with the ore is very fmall. This barren

1 ftone