On the Geolog'y of the Cheetore Hill. 85 



long apparently to that series of rocks which tlie late Dr V'oye- 

 sy * proposed to distinguish by the general name of the " Clay- 

 slate Formation ;" a formation distinct from the clay-slate of Ja- 

 meson {Thanschiefer of Werner). Captain Franklin f, how- 

 ever, has endeavoured to identify the rocks of this series with 

 the new red sandstones of England, and his ideas have been 

 very generally adopted in this country. The new red sandstone 

 formation is now described as being one of the most extensively 

 distributed surface formations of Hindostan ; it consists of a 

 series of shales, slate-clays, some of which it is impossible, as far 

 as their mineralogical characters are concerned, to distinguish 

 from the older slates, sandstones, sandstone-slates, with asso- 

 ciated conglomerates and breccias. This series reposes, some- 

 times directly, upon granitic rocks, sometimes on the clay-slates, 

 and sometimes upon rocks probably identical with the old red 

 sandstones; while, in particular districts, it overlies the coal 

 measures. It is characterized, in general, by the nearly hori- 

 zontal position of its strata, by the absence or great scarcity of 

 organic remains ; and, to the west and north-west of Ajmeer, 

 by associated deposites of rock-salt and gypsum ; but these last 

 have not, as yet, been discovered in Central India ; nor have 

 they been found in connexion with the vast sandstone tracts 

 which form the southern and north-eastern barriers of the val- • 

 ley of the Ganges and Jumna, &c. 



Saline efflorescences, indeed, consisting principally of muriate 

 of soda, with associated sulphate of soda and carbonate of 

 soda in small proportion, are every where observed in these dis- 

 tricts, and the soil is also very generally impregnated to a great 

 depth with a similar sahne compound, which is extracted by 

 lixiviation, and crystallized for common domestic purposes, under 

 the name of kharee Nimuh (i. e. bitter salt) ; but such soils do 

 not seem to be peculiar to the sandstone tracts, at least they 

 have been observed in situations where it would be difficult in- 

 deed to trace any connexion between them and the occurrence 

 of rocks of the formation under review. A less exceptionable 

 argument might perhaps be derived from the fact, that brackisii 

 wells are frequently met with in the sandstone tracts, but even 



• See Transactions of the Thysical Class, Asiatic Society, Part I. p. 1(». 

 t Ibid, p. 103, also p. 121. 



