But in no part, probably, were landslips more strikingly developed than in the small valley of the Mahádeo, which forms an amphitheatre about four miles long from east to west, and a mile and a half across, lying to the south of the Bálpakrám and Pundengru hills. "Here," remarks Mr. Oldham, "everything combined to favour the formation of landslips. The hills were composed of soft sandstone, they were steep-sided, high, and narrow from side to side, and consequently were doubtless thrown into actual oscillation as a whole; while the range of motion of the wave particle was not less than eight inches near the edge of the precipices. The result ... has been to produce an indescribable scene of desolation. Everywhere the hillsides facing the valley have been stripped bare from crest to base, and the seams of coal and partings of shale could be seen running in and out of the irregularities of the cliffs with a sharpness and distinctness which recalled the pictures of the cañons of Colorado. At the bottom of the valley was a piled-up heap of _débris_ and broken trees, while the old stream had been obliterated and the stream could be seen flowing over a sandy bed, which must have been raised many feet above the level of the old watercourse." In the sandstone districts of the area here considered, the landslips had some important secondary effects. Along the southern edge of the Garo and Khasi hills, great sand-fans spread over the fields, and the exposure of the hillsides formerly protected by forest left free scope for future denudation. Every stream of any size has in this way devastated many square miles of country. Among the hills themselves, more sand was brought down than the streams could carry away, and everywhere their beds were raised. "Ordinarily, the beds of these rivers, which are raging torrents when in flood, consist of a succession of deep pools separated by rocky rapids. After the rains of 1897, it was found that the pools had been filled up, and the rapids obliterated by a great deposit of sand, over which the rivers flowed in a broad and shallow stream." A few valleys were for a short time barred across by landslips. In one, on the northern foot of the Garo hills, a landslip crossed the drainage channel and formed a shallow pond, which was not filled up by sand until the end of January 1898. Near Sinya, in the northern Khasi hills, an unusually large landslip formed a barrier, of which the remains are more than 200 feet above the level of the river-bed. Behind this, the water accumulated in a great lake until the beginning of September 1897, when the barrier burst and a flood of water rushed down the valley. ROTATION OF PILLARS, ETC.