145 



below tho stratum in which the fossils occur, sandstone 

 appears, dipping to the north at an angle of 25°. 



Through the decomposition of these rocks, dunes, or 

 sandhills, covering the whole island, appear to have been 

 formed. They are for the most part of very peculiar 

 shape and aspect. Dr. Lush seems to think that they 

 have proved a barrier to the further encroachment of the 

 sea.* 



The lowest beds of conglomerate are composed of 

 nodules of sandstone, indurated clay, and a small propor- 

 tion of silex, cemented together with a yellow clay. On the 

 Avestern side of the island it is entirely denuded through 

 the action of the sea, and it can, therefore, be examined 

 narrowly. The fossils and nodules imbedded in this 

 formation are constantly being washed out of the matrix, 

 and consequently are to be found Ij^ng loose in the thick 

 beds of mud and silt, exposed to view Avhen the tide is 

 out. These nodules, rolled by the waves, have been 

 Avorn into the most strange and fantastic shapes. The 

 fossil remains, through the same cause, suffer severely, 

 and this accounts for the very fcAv perfect and clear 

 specimens that have hitherto been discovered. 



We should naturally expect, that if Perim was ever 

 united to the main land in past ages, we should be able 

 to detect its clays, sandstones, conglomerates, and bone 

 beds on the opposite shores of Kattiawar — and such is 

 the case ; and this is the evidence to which I referred at 

 the beginning of this paper, as being so strong in favour 

 of the idea that such a connection did once exist. Major 

 Fulljamesf found that similar formations lay along the 

 whole line of coast from Gogo to Gossnath Point ; and in 

 the conglomerates discovered fossils of the same age 



• Dr. Lusli, " Juunial of llic Asiatic- Society of Bengal," vol. v. p. 7C7. 

 •f- " Journal of tlie Asiatic SocietVi" IJengal, vol. v\.^. 787. 



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