110 Dr Cliristie on the Meteorology, Geology, S^c. 



Owing to the soft nature of these clay- slates, wells can be 

 very easily dug at Darwar; and several that were dug, during 

 my residence there, to a depth of at least seventy feet, afforded 

 me opportunities of studying the nature of the strata. Some- 

 times the red, sometimes the white, variety occurs at the surface; 

 and I have found the latter at a depth of seventy feet. Some 

 of the varieties, when weathered, assume an ochre yellow colour. 



A fine display of these varieties of the clay-slate occurs in the 

 bed of a ravine near Kulladghee. They there alternate with 

 beds of greywacke. They have a very highly inclined, and, in 

 some places, a vertical dip ; and their direction is about north and 

 by west, south and by east. In the dry season they can be very 

 easily examined ; for they are completely exposed for an extent 

 of probably a quarter of a mile, except in a few spots where they 

 are covered with debris. In those parts of the ravine where 

 they have been worn down and polished by the stream, their 

 red, blue, and white colours produce a beautiful appearance. 



CJilorite-Slate. — This rock is very widely distributed through- 

 out these districts. It is met with throughout the whole of 

 the central and southern parts of the Darwar district, in the 

 Gauts, and at several points on the western coast, under the 

 claystone conglomerate. Its most common colour appears to 

 be light greenish-grey. In the Ram-gaut, I found it with dis- 

 seminated grains of felspar, and having a fine slaty structure. 

 There is a variety found near Darwar and Kittore, which is in- 

 termediate between chlorite- slate and clay-slate. It has a bluish- 

 grey colour, a slightly greasy feel, is hard, and has a coarse 

 slaty structure. When tolerably compact, it is employed as a 

 building stone ; for which it is well adapted. 

 v>t{6ome varieties of the chlorite and clayslates contain crys- 

 tals of iron-pyrites. I have been informed that this mineral is 

 sometimes sent all the way to Madras, by the native merchants, 

 as an article of trade, I believe for the purpose of being cut in- 

 to beads and 6\\\QV ornaments used by the natives. 

 ' Talc-Slate. — This, like the chlorite slate, has a very wide dis- 

 tribution throughout these districts. There .are several varie- 

 ties of it. The talc sometimes occurs unmixed with any other 

 substance, it has, in this case, a fine slaty structure, and a 



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