Mr. Scott also
remarks on the crumbling of the castings near Calcutta and on the
mountains of Sikkim during the hot and dry season.
When the castings near Nice had been ejected on an inclined
surface, the disintegrated fragments rolled downwards, without
losing their distinctive shape; and in some places could "be
collected in basketfuls." Dr. King observed a striking instance of
this fact on the Corniche road, where a drain, about 2.5 feet wide
and 9 inches deep, had been made to catch the surface drainage from
the adjoining hill-side. The bottom of this drain was covered for
a distance of several hundred yards, to a depth of from 1.5 to 3
inches, by a layer of broken castings, still retaining their
characteristic shape. Nearly all these innumerable fragments had
rolled down from above, for extremely few castings had been ejected
in the drain itself. The hill-side was steep, but varied much in
inclination, which Dr. King estimated at from 30 degrees to 60
degrees with the horizon. He climbed up the slope, and "found
every here and there little embankments, formed by fragments of the
castings that had been arrested in their downward progress by
irregularities of the surface, by stones, twigs, &c. One little
group of plants of Anemone hortensis had acted in this manner, and
quite a small bank of soil had collected round it.
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