Page:Madras Journal of Literature and Science, series 1, volume 6 (1837).djvu/374

348 frequently touch each other, leaving, at intervals, little horizontal plots, of a pistol-shot in width. These plots occur in terraces, on lower levels as they extend eastward.

Vale of the Under.—The valley of the Under river, north-west of Poona, presents a perfect contrast to the last. It is level for twenty miles, running east and west to the very edge of the ghats, and a person can stand at the head of the valley upon the brink of a scarp rising almost from the Konkun. Here, at the source of the river, it is nearly six miles wide. The river Under runs down the valley one hundred and fifty feet below the level of the cultivated lands.

Vale of the Baum.—The neighbouring valley of the Baum river, unlike that of the Under, originates about seven miles from the crest of the ghats at a spot where the mountain masses separate into two spurs. Hence it continues level for fourteen miles, gradually widening eastward. The Baum river, like the Under, runs at a level of one hundred and fifty feet below the cultivated lands; these lands, in fact, being upon one terrace, the river upon a second and lower terrace.

Vale of the Beema.—The next valley on the north is that of the Beema river. The river rises on the elevated table-land above the ghats, at three thousand and ninety feet, and within the first few miles it tumbles over several terraces. The valley, for eighteen miles, is occasionally as narrow as that of the Mota river.

Vale of the Goreh.—Next on the north occurs the valley of the Goreh river, which, from the source of the river to Munchur (twenty-nine miles), is exceedingly narrow and tortuous. Here it expands into the broad horizontal plain of Kowta, ten miles wide.

Vale of the Malsej Ghat.—In conclusion, as a contrast to the first part of the Goreh valley, I must mention the valley of the Malsej ghat, on the south of the Dukhun-base of the fort of Hurreechundurghur. It is several miles wide, and literally as level, even to the brink of the ghats, as if smoothed by art. Many of the valleys of the ghats, particularly that of the Mool river, from the continued scarped character of the marginal mountains, and the flatness of the bottom for miles in extent, look like fosses to a Titan's fortress.

If all these valleys be valleys of excavation, the present rivers could scarcely produce such, were we to suppose their powers of attrition in operation from the origin of things even to the end of time!