Laterite

Extract

In the first place let us deal with the origin of the word. It was first used in 1807 by F. Buchanan in A Journey from Madras through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar. In dealing with the iron-ore seen during his journey he wrote:—“In all the hills of the country the ore is found forming beds, veins, or detached masses in the stratum of indurated clay, that is to be afterwards described, and of which the greater part of the hills of Malabar consists. … What I have called indurated clay … is one of the most valuable materials for building. It is diffused in immense masses, without any appearance of stratification, and is placed over the granite which forms the basis of Malayala. It is full of cavities and pores, and contains a very large quantity of iron in the form of red and yellow ochres. In the mass, while excluded from the air, it is so soft, that any iron instrument readily cuts it, and is dug up in square masses with a pickaxe, and immediately cut into the shape wanted with a trowel, or large knife. It very soon after becomes as hard as a brick, and resists the air and water much better than any bricks I have seen in India. … As it is usually cut into the form of bricks for building, in several of the native dialects it is called the brick stone. … The most proper English name would be Laterite, from Lateritis, the appellation that may be given to it in science.”