28 BARODA STATE
of it is red soil. The black soil, although very fertile, is remarkable for
the desert-like appearance it gives to the country where it predominates,
while where the surface soil becomes red, there is a complete change.
The latter is cultivated from one end to the other, there are high
hedges between the fields, and the view is shut in on every side by
lofty trees such as abound in the neighbourhood of the capital. It is
for this reason that the country between Baroda and Ahmadabad has
often been said to present the appearance of an English park. The
Kadi pant, consisting of an uninterrupted plain sloping gently from
north-east to south-west, has a much more uniform and conse-
quently less picturesque aspect. The western portion of the division is
especially monotonous. The Navsari prdnt is the most variegated of
the four divisions of the State, affording within a small compass the
scenery of cultivated land, hills, rivers, forests, and seaboard. All the
country to the north and north-east of Navsari is thickly wooded, and
these woods run for some distance down into the more level plains of
Gujarat along the Purna and Ambika rivers. The most hilly portion of
the country is in the Songarh daluka. The inland tdlukas to the south-
east of Navsari, and the country adjoining the Bansda State, are more
level, but not so rich or well cultivated as the coast subdivisions. Still
here and there clumps of forest appear, which become larger and bolder
as an approach is made to the Dangs, where the wood is very thick.
The Amreliprdnt, being, with the exception of the Gir, devoid of hills
and containing no rivers of any importance, is decidedly unpicturesque.
The Okhamandal division is, however, attractive, as it is on the sea-
coast, and contains the important harbour of Dwarka.
There are no large natural lakes worthy of the name; but in the
Kadi prant artificial tanks of more than ordinary dimensions exist, of
which the Sarmishta at Vadnagar and the tanks in Visnagar and near
Patan may be specially mentioned. The Baroda prdnt contains several
large tanks, the most extensive being that of Maval in the Savli taluka.
The most important is, however, the great reservoir, almost deserving
the name of lake, which has been constructed at Ajwa during the rule
of the present Gaikwar, for the purpose of supplying the inhabitants of
Baroda city with potable water.
Our knowledge of the geology of the State is mainly due to Mr. R.
Bruce Foote of the Geological Survey of India, who, in the years I892-4,
visited and carefully examined all the regions containing important
minerals. The results arrived at by him were published in a memoir,
entitled The Geology of Baroda State.
In the Gujarat portion, recent subaerial formations, consisting mainly
of the great loess or blown-loam deposit, cover by far the greater part
of the country. They are underlaid by the old alluvium of the great
rivers, which is nearly coextensive with them in 'the same area,
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