Valley of Oodipoor. S71 



sence of carbonate of magnesia. From 10 to 15 per cent, of 

 this substance I have separated from the purer varieties, the 

 quantity being greater or less according to the quantity of car- 

 bonate of lime present in the specimen analyzed. 



I have premised these remarks of a general nature, in the 

 hope that they will render more intelligible the few observations 

 I have to make on the kunkur of the Valley of Oodipoor. The 

 characteristic features of the kunkur are here the same as else- 

 where ; and I need not therefore repeat what I have already 

 said on the subject. 



In the Valley of Oodipoor the kunkur-beds are very exten- 

 sively distributed. They are constantly observed reposing un- 

 der the soil, or mantling over the collines which diversify its 

 surface. They are not, however, universally present, and con- 

 siderable intervals occur where the older strata alone make their 

 appearance at the surface. Almost all the varieties of kunkur, 

 above briefly alluded to, occur. We have specimens exhibiting 

 a partially oolitic texture, others assuming a globular, botryoidal, 

 or concentric laminar form, while others are nearly compact. 

 We have them, too, of every shade of colour, from dirty white, 

 through yellowish and reddish-brown, up to a very dark brown, 

 approaching to black. The kunkur-beds seldom exceed a few 

 feet in thickness, often not more than two or three feet. Inter- 

 nally these beds very often exhibit a series of masses of spheroi- 

 dal or imitative forms, closely packed together in a loosely ad- 

 hering marl, from which they are easily removed, resembling, 

 when accumulated for economical purposes, a heap of water- 

 worn pebbles. This variety is the one most commonly employ- 

 ed in the manufacture of lime. Other beds, more especially of 

 the dark ferruginous varieties, have a more uniform and rocky 

 character; but the most common form of the kunkur in the 

 Valley of Oodipoor, is one which we but rarely meet with in the 

 plains beyond. This variety may be described as a conglome* 

 rate, consisting of an immense accumulation of imbedded masses, 

 varying from the size of a millet-seed to that of blocks occasion- 

 ally several feet in diameter. These are dispersed through a 

 matrix of a dark grey colour, consisting of finely comminuted 

 panicles of the softer argillaceous rocks, agglutinated by calca- 

 reous matter. Quartz-grains, crystals of felspar, and scales of 



