st from Sasseram to
Neemuch, and north and south from Agra to Hoshangabad, comprises the
whole of the agency except the northern part of Bundelkhand. On the
plateau itself the sandstone is generally overlaid by the Deccan trap, a
blackish-coloured basaltic rock of volcanic origin, the high level
tableland having been formed by a succession of lava flows, the valleys
of Central India being merely "denudation hollows" carved out by the
action of rain and rivers. It is apparently the northern limit of what
was once a vast basaltic plain stretching from Goona to Belgaum, "one of
the most gigantic outpourings of volcanic matter in the world." The
sandstone bed on which it rests is visible at a point just north of
Goona, and in a small area round Bhilsa and Bhopal, as it is in those
places freed from the layer of trap. The low-lying land includes roughly
that part of the agency which lies to the east of the plateau and
comprises the greater part of the political divisions of Bundelkhand and
Baghelkhand and the country round Gwalior. The formation save in north
Bundelkhand is sandstone of the Vindhyan series, free as a rule from
"trap." In the north of Bundelkhand the prevailing rock is gneiss and
quartz. The quartz takes the shape of long serrated ridges, which are in
many places a characteristic feature of the landscape. Trap appears here
and there in intrusive dykes. The hilly tracts lie chiefly to the south
of the agency, where the Vindhya, Satpura and Kaimur ranges are met
with. The country is rough forest and jungle land little used for
cultivation. The greater part of Central India is covered with the
well-known "black cotton soil," produced by the disintegration of the
trap rock. It is a very rich loamy earth, possessing great fertility and
an unusual power of retaining moisture, which makes artificial
irrigation little needed. Opium and millet are the principal crops grown
upon it. The ordinary "red soil" covers a large part of northern
Bundelkhand, and as it requires much irrigation, tanks are a special
feature in this country. Ethnologically as well as climatically the
differences between the plateau and the eastern part of the agency are
distinct and the languages markedly so. The plateau is inhabited by
pure-blooded Rajput races, whose ancestry can be traced back for
centuries, with all their numerous offshoots. The inhabitants of the
low-lying country are also Rajputs, but their descent is mixed and as a
rule the