78 Mr Hardie's Oialine of the 



to me as such, which were examples of those beautiful dendri- 

 tical delineations of metallic origin, which have so often deceived 

 those unacquainted with their nature. Such appearances are 

 often met with in tliese sandstones. I have not sufficient data 

 to enable me to decide relative to the age of this formation ; the 

 strata appear to dip under the newer rocks, and they may pro^ 

 bably be identified with the old red sandstones of England. 



I have but little to say regarding the belt of rocks which I 

 have mentioned as flanking the Bhurtpore district to the west: 

 About three miles W. S. W. from the city of Bhurtpore, we 

 meet with a low hill-range, which, as before stated, forms a por- 

 tion of the eastern limit of the belt. This range runs in a di- 

 rection N.E. and S. W. ; the hills are low, (about 150 or 200 

 feet), and the rocks composing them belong to the transition 

 series. On approaching the range from the east, the first rock 

 observed is a variety of grey wacke ; it is subcrystalline ; is 

 composed of quartz, felspar, and talcose matter ; colour light 

 grey, passing through various shades into dark blackish grey ; 

 texture rather fine angulo-granular, occasionally inclining to 

 compact. The quartz grains, when magnified, appear in many 

 cases rounded, and some of the specimens much resemble sand- 

 stone. The rock is generally minutely porous on its weathered 

 surface; the pores are filled occasionally with a ferruginous 

 ochre, occasionally with a white talcose earth ; breathed upon, 

 it exhales a strong aluminous odour. In the narrow beds, the 

 rock is more compact than in the other, and is harder and more 

 difficultly frangible. The whole of the eastern slope is formed 

 of this rock. We next come upon a bed of soft friable slate, 

 which may be described as a talco-argillaceous schist ; colour 

 light grey, soft, so as to crumble between the fingers ; has a 

 soapy feel ; a somewhat silky lustre, and an earthy cross frac- 

 ture. 



The strata are nearly vertical, with a slight inclination to the 

 N.W., and are traversed by numerous quartz veins, running in 

 a direction generally N. W. and S.E., with a north-easterly under^. 

 lie. On the summit and slope of the hills there are a great 

 abundance of rolled stones, consisting of rounded masses of fer- 

 ruginous conglomerates, iron and manganese ores, and quartz 



