Page:Madras Journal of Literature and Science, series 1, volume 6 (1837).djvu/377

1837] frequently the tops or terminal planes of columns are observed on the table-land forming a pavement. The perfect columns in the flanks are generally small, four, five, or six-sided, and rest on a stratum of basalt or amygdaloid. In some spots the columns are articulated, in others not. In a mass of columns in the face of the table-land towards Serroor the columns are of different lengths, but spring from the same level. More articulations having been washed from the outer columns than from the inner by monsoon torrents dashing over them, a pretty flight of steps remains. The columns of this table land are from the most part erect, but sometimes stand at various angles, to the horizon, usually at 45°. In one instance, near the village of Kurdah, they lean from the east and west, towards a central upright mass: these are about fourteen feet in length, and are not articulated. In a mass of columns facing the west, and two miles south of the cavalry lines at Serroor, some are bent and not articulated; they are nevertheless associated with straight columns, which are articulated. At Karkullah thirty miles north-west of Poona, between Tellegaon and Lophur, a hill has been scarped for the great military road. Very numerous small columns occur in the escarpment, and they lie piled upon each other in a horizontal position; the only instance of the kind within my knowledge in Dukhun. Two or three hundred yards west of the village of Yewtee Purgunnah Kurdeh, in the rocky banks of a rivulet, imperfect columns are seen. On the right bank they are so marked, as to have excited the attention of the natives (an unusual event); and they are daubed with red lead, in the manner of Hindoo deities, and venerated.

At Kothool, twenty-two miles south of Ahmednuggur, there is a thick stratum of close-grained gray homogeneous basalt in the face of the hill on which is seated tbc temple of Kundobah. Vertical and horizontal fissures are seen in the lateral plane or exposed edge of this stratum, but they are so far from each other as to leave huge blocks between them, giving the appearance of the superstratum of the hill being supported by massive articulated pilasters. Parts of the exposed edge are detached from its mass, leaving rude columns four or five feet in diameter, eight or ten high, and composed of three or four weighty stones disposed to assume geometrical forms. In the water-courses near Kurroos Turruf Ranjungaon, columns are observable. The basalt is bluish gray, compact, has a vitreous hue, and sharp fracture. The columns occur very abundantly in the slope of the hills, on either side of a very narrow valley running westward from the village of Ankoolner, Ahmednuggur collectorate. They are five