Mountains,
and
Geological
Formation.

District Selections.

the level of the water, large quantities of sodas are collected. On the southern side of the lake, not far from the water's edge, is a well of sweet water, yielded at a depth considerably below the level of the surface of the water in the lake. Two small streams fall into it from the land above; one passes through a small temple, which is much frequented by piligrims-for Lonár is now, as in the days of Akbar, a place of religious resort. This is how it is mentioned in the Aín-i-Akbari (written about A.D. 1600): "These mountains produce all the requi"sites for making glass and soap. And here are saltpetre works which "yield a considerable revenue to the State, from the duties collected. "On these mountains is a spring of salt water, but the water from the "centre and the edges is perfectly fresh."

Hills.

Ba'sim.

The highest points are all in the Púsad taluk. Their highest does not exceed two thousand feet; but very many hills can be found whose altitude is not less. In the richer parts of the Básim taluk there are no hills.

Wu'n.

The physical features of the country are of a varied nature, consisting of plains, plateaus, and hill-ranges. Physical features. The last mentioned attain, at their highest elevation, an altitude of 1,921 feet. In breadth, length, and contour there is no conformity. These hill-ranges are shoots from the Ajanta chain, which commences at the western extremity of the Assigned Districts, and runs almost parallel to the Painganga as far eastward as Básim- —a town near the eastern frontier of the district. From this point three distinct shoots are thrown out into the Wún district. The first of these enters the boundary near Nairát-a distance of ten miles from the northern frontier,-continues in an easterly course for fifty-seven miles to Baundarpúr in the Wún pargana, and then, taking a southerly direction towards Múkarban, terminates at an elevation of 944 feet. Throughout its easterly course it throws out numerous spurs. The largest of these attains a length of thirty-six miles, runs parallel to the Múkarban range, divides the Wágri and Kúni rivers, and culminates at a height of 1,310 feet. The next in importance has a length of thirty miles, a southern direction, and divides the Wágri river from the A'ran. The head-quarter station of the Wún district is situated on this first division of the hills, near the small village of Yewatmál, at an elevation of 1,583 feet above the sea level. This range carries no valuable timber. Teak-trees, stunted in growth and having no large girth, are scattered here and there throughout the last twenty-five miles of its length. The common jungle-trees-dhaundá, sál, ain, khair, and others too numerous to detail-are in some parts plentiful, but of no large size. Bamboos of small dimensions are found to grow in ravines near its culminating point; they have been preserved.

The geological formation of this as well as the other ranges, which will be noticed in their turn, is principally the Dakhan trap. More recent

strata, such as sandstone, limestone, and others, are frequently found both in the plains and tablelands. Iron ore of unusual richness is abundant alike on the tops of ranges as in the vaileys below; the ore is not worked. Petrified shells may be seen on the slopes to the south of Pálegaon. Quartz is sparsely distributed.

The second division of hills enters this district at the extreme eastern boundary at Pálegaon, south of Mangrúl. After its separation from the third division it runs northerly for eight miles, and then turns eastward near Kúpta, and continues in that direction until it terminates at a point near Dabri. Its entire length is about thirty-five miles. The highest altitude is 1,585 feet. Throughout its length it is covered with low scrub-jungle. This range divides the A ́rna and A ́ran rivers, and throws out many spurs.

The third range of hills, from its separation at Pálegaon follows a south-east course to Singad and Moha (villages to the north and northeast of Pusad); it then takes an easterly direction, and after throwing out spurs to the south in the direction of the Pús river, and after running parallel with the first division, it terminates at Warúr near the Painganga. Its entire length is sixty-six miles, and it attains its greatest altitude at a point near Warrandali, namely, 1,921 feet-the highest in the district; but for the last thirty-three miles of its course the altitude is inconsiderable. Like the range last alluded to, scrubjungle forms its principal wood; but near Kúsdani teak and other jungle trees, attaining no remarkable height or girth, are plentiful.

The fourth range enters the A'nsing pargana, and continues unbroken in a south-east direction beyond Umarkher. The width of this range is much greater than that of any other. The tablelands at, and in the vicinity of, Umarkher are open and well cultivated with wheat, the staple product of these parts, which differ materially from the more northerly portions of the district both in their agricultural produce, climate, and scenery. The hills hereabouts carry the usual stunted teak and jungle trees. The geological formation of this range is also trap.

Mountains,

and Geological Formation.

District

Selections.

SECTION II.-Minerals.

The mineralogy of the province is only remarkable for the saltwells of Akola, the saline deposits of the Lonár lake, and the coal in Wún district upon the Wardha river.

Salt-wells.

The salt-wells are the most curious mineral speciality of the Berár valley. They are sunk into what is supposed to be "a kind of subterranean lake or reservoir of water," extending more than fifty miles in length and about ten in breadth, in the Akola district. The tract lies on both

Minerals.

Minerals,

sides of the Púrna river, from the village of Pátúr on the west to near Nauda on the east, the principal wells being close to Dahihánda.

In 1855-56 398 of these wells were working, and the annual farm of them yielded to Government Rs. 24,000.

The wells are thus described in the Report for 1855-56

They are of small size, about three or four feet in diameter. Their inner surface is protected by a sort of basket-work, which is built in as the shaft is dug, and which prevents the loose alluvial soil from falling into the well. At Dahihánda the depth of the well from the edge to the surface of the water is said to be from ninety to one hundred and twenty feet. At this depth a thick and strong band of sandstone grit binds down the strata and sands in which the water is found. When this band is pierced the water rises violently, on the principle of the artesian well, and finally subsides to a fixed level, which is not affected by seasonal changes."

Mr. Bamanji Jamasji thus describes the tapping operations, and the subsequent process of salt-digging:

"The men go digging and building these wells till they think that water might be below a foot or a foot and a-half. They then stop digging, and complete the whole work. Afterwards an expert man descends into the well, seated in a cradle, and some four or five sharp men stand on the top of it holding the ropes of the cradle with great caution. The man who descends in digs the ground very slowly, and when he finds that there is water below half a foot he warns the men on the top to be watchful, and then strikes a final blow with a hoe very strongly. The water then shoots up like a spout, and fills the well at once for fifteen or twenty feet up. When the man strikes the final blow the men on the top pull him up, for it might perhaps happen that he would be drowned; but such instances occur rarely, if at all.

"The people draw the water up from the wells in an earthen vessel capable of holding 20 seers, or 5 gallons, of water, by means of a pulley fixed on a rod thrust in the ground. They then store up the water in large square-like areas which are made near around the wells. These squares are divided into several beds that are metalled and well prepared to retain water in them. Each of these beds holds 82 gallons of water. In winter the water in the beds turns into salt after eight days, while in summer after four. In the cold season the salt in each bed weighs from 15 to 20 seers, and in the hot weather from 20 to 25."

The supply of salt from these wells is inexhaustible. The water in this underground-lake is supposed to be very deep, but it has never been properly fathomed; the greatest depth is said to be on the Púrna's northern bank. "The brine," writes Dr. Riddle, " contains a higher "percentage of the muriate of soda than sca-water, but it is mixed with deliquescent salts which give it a bitter taste, and which spoil it for

"exportation. After a little exposure the saline taste disappears and a mass of tasteless mud is left behind. It is probable either that there are beds of rock-salt below the sandstone grit, or that there are beds of "saline sand and clay through which the water percolates. When the "band is pierced the water rises, as described, like an artesian well."

Lake of Lonár.

The Lake of Lonár is said to be the only crater in the great basaltic district of India, which includes the whole of Berár. No other trace remains to indicate the vents from which was ejected the volcanic matter which covers this immense plutonic region, if indeed the theory be correct which holds Lonár to be a vast extinct crater.

The subjoined analysis of the fresh water within the Lonár hollow, and of the salts, is taken from a geological paper by J. G. Malcolmson, Esq., F.G.S. (read in 1837):

"I have carefully examined the water of this well, and that of the small stream at the pagoda above. This last had a specific gravity of 10006; and 2,000 grains, evaporated at 212°, gave a solid residue of of a grain, the greater part of which consisted of muriate of soda with a little sulphate, and the remainder of carbonate of lime. The water of the well below had nearly the same specific gravity, but contained, in 2,000 grains, one grain of solid matter, of which 7 of a grain were soluble in water, and contained muriate of soda and a little sulphuric acid and lime. The insoluble part consisted of carbonate of lime. The salt is collected at the end of the dry season, when the water is low; and I observed mounds of the black mud on the banks covered with an efflorescence of tubular crystals. The salt is used for washing and dyeing chintzes, &c., and is exported to considerable distances. I imagined that the water of the lake in which such large quantities of salt were deposited was saturated, but I found its specific gravity to be only 1027-65, a solution of the salt itself obtained from the bottom at the same time being 1148 4, and the water rapidly dissolved the crystals thrown into it. On analysis the salt was found to consist, in 100 parts, of carbonic acid, 38; soda, 40·9;⋅ water, 20.6; insoluble matter, 5; and a trace of a sulphate. This nearly corresponds to the composition of the trona or striated soda from the lakes of Fezzan, examined by Mr. R. Phillips, but approaches somewhat nearer to the equivalent numbers of the sesquicarbonate established by that analysis, which is to be ascribed to the greater purity of the Lonár salt. The water of the lake contained, besides, a little potash, muriate of soda 29 grains, sesquicarbonate of soda 4.2 nearly, and sulphate of soda 1 of a grain in 1,000 grains of the water. No lime could be detected in it, nor did I discover any magnesia."

Iron ore is very plentiful throughout large tracts on the eastern side of Berár, especially in the hills about Kárinja, and among the low ranges close to Amráoti on the north-east. It is not worked by the natives, and the proportion of iron to the ore has not been scientifically determined.

Minerals.

Minerals.

District Selections.

DISTRICT SELECTIONS.

Bulda'na.

"I learnt on the spot that the crater-if crater it be-has towards

tain K. L. Mackenzie.

As

Note on Lonár Lake by Cap- the western side (rather than the centre) two openings, hitherto unfathomed, which in the hot season (for the water elsewhere around them completely dries up) hold a very thick and slimy solution—a kind of blackish clay and water. The mouth of one opening is said to have an area of from 2 to 2 acres, the mouth of the other opening from 1 to 1 acres; and it is in these openings, so the natives assert, that the impregnation of accumulation of the rains which fill the lake takes place. The waters, in fact, day by day during the monsoon getting thoroughly saturated, spread and fill the lake to the extent we see. the hot season approaches the water evaporates and recedes to the openings before mentioned, when the whole bed of the lake, to the openings, is found encrusted with a thin layer of crystallised deposit, called by the natives" pápri," which is carefully collected and stored. Below this crusting of " pápri," which is also to some depth full of a similar deposit, is dug up and stored away, and this goes by the name of "bhuski." The " pápri" and "bhuski," you will observe, can only be got in the hot weather, and after the bed of the lake has, with the exceptions mentioned, been left completely dry. But it is otherwise with the "dalla," or the large blocks of pure crystal, which can only be got by the divers when the lake is full of water, and then only at the sides of the openings before mentioned; bamboos being set up in the dry season round the margin, to be a guide to the divers when the waters rush in and fill the bed of the lake. The divers have no doubt that these crystals could be found in the hot weather also, but they dare not then enter the thick slimy mud which fills the openings, for to dive into it at that season is to dive to certain death. The native account of the source of impregnation is further, it seems to me, borne out by the presence of a well at the margin near the temple of "Bhawani," which contains the purest and sweetest water, and their belief as to this well is (but this is of course an untested belief) that any shaft sunk, unless carried to a depth we could never think of, will result in nothing."

"It may be of interest further to record that the "dulla" crystals fetch from Rs. 85 to Rs. 100 per kandy, the "papri" from Rs. 18 to Rs. 25 per kandy, while the "bhuski" is worth only Rs. 8 to Rs. 10 the kandy. The divers' families number, I am told, about 150, chiefly "Mális" and "Kolis"-all watandárs, sharing amongst themselves. in certain proportions one-fourth the outturn of the year, be it little or great, for one-fourth is what the contractors allow them. They hold lands which they cultivate, and in the diving season they go to work, I believe, in gangs by turns. For the collection of the "pápri" and "bhuski" they all go to work, and call in besides a number of coolies, who are paid at their expense." Subjoined is a tabular return of an analysis made by Dr. I. B. Lyon of Bombay.