hills, and flowing eastward through the native state of Palanpur, fall
into the Runn of Cutch. The Sabarmati and the Mahi rise in the Mahi
Kantha hills, and flowing southwards, drain the districts of Northern
Gujarat, and fall into the sea near the head of the Gulf of Cambay. The
streams which, rising in the Sahyadri range, or Western Ghats, flow
westward into the Arabian Sea, are of little importance. During the
rains they are formidable torrents, but with the return of the fair
weather they dwindle away, and during the hot season, with a few
exceptions, they almost dry up. Clear and rapid as they descend the
hills, on reaching the lowlands of the Konkan they become muddy and
brackish creeks. The Kanarese rivers have a larger body of water and a
more regular flow than the streams of the Konkan. One of them, the
Sharawati, forcing its way through the western ridge of the Ghats,
plunges from the high to the low country by a succession of falls, the
principal of which is 800 ft. in height. The Sahyadri, or Western Ghats,
also throw off to the eastward the two principal rivers of the Madras
Presidency, the Godavari and the Kistna. These rivers collect countless
tributary streams, some of them of considerable size, and drain the
entire plain of the Deccan as they pass eastward towards the Bay of
Bengal.
Lakes.
The Manchar Lake is situated on the right bank of the Indus. During
inundations it attains a length of 20 m., and a breadth of 10, covering
a total area estimated at 180 sq. m. But the most peculiar lacustrine
feature of the presidency is the Runn or Lake of Cutch, which, according
to the season of the year, is a salt marsh, an inland lake, or an arm of
the sea with an area of 8000 sq. m. It forms the western boundary of the
province of Gujarat, and when flooded during the rains unites the Gulfs
of Cutch and Cambay, and converts the territory of Cutch into an island.
_Geology._--South of Gujarat nearly the whole of Bombay is covered by
the horizontal lava flows of the Deccan Trap series, and these flows
spread over the greater part of the Kathiawar peninsula and extend into
Cutch. In Cutch and Kathiawar they are underlaid by Jurassic and
Neocomian beds. The Jurassic beds are marine and contain numerous
Ammonites, but the beds which are referred to the Neocomian include a
series of sandstones and shales with remains of plants. Several of the
plants are identical with forms which occur in the upper portion of the
Gondwana system. Tertiary limestones, sandstones and shales overlie the
Deccan Trap in Cutch, but the greatest development of deposits of this
age is to be met with on the western side of the Indus (see SIND). The
plain of Sind and of eastern Gujarat is covered by alluvium and
wind-blown sand.
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