152 Captain Franklin on the Diamond Mines of 



friable, and the marly slates are again visible in the hills which 

 overlook the town of Panna. 



The lowest portion of the range, or that which is called Bin- 

 dacha], is the peculiar habitat of the diamond, for it is not 

 found in any other part, except on the platform of this range, 

 or on the counterscarp of the second, and it is proved by the 

 waterfalls, that this range also is entirely composed of sand- 

 stone. For instance, the cascade of the Ranj river shows a 

 series of sandstone interstratified with slate clay three hundred 

 and ninety feet thick. All the other waterfalls present simi- 

 lar appearances, and that of the Bagin river, penetrating 

 deeper than the rest, exhibits a fine section ; here the sand- 

 stone is distinctly interstratified by a succession of layers of 

 slate clay, the uppermost of which having a marly base is 

 thickest, and the descending strata becoming more indurated, 

 containing more mica, and gradually diminishing in thickness, 

 dwindle away finally into mere partings, and in their progress 

 to this attenuated state, they assume characters so various, 

 that in some instances, it is difficult to distinguish them from 

 the older schists. The sandstone also changes, gradual- 

 ly becoming silicious, and at the bottom it closely resem- 

 bles some varieties of quartz rock, but the horizontal position 

 of the beds is constantly preserved, and in all the glens, par- 

 ticularly in that of the Bagin river, black bituminous shale 

 crops out from beneath the sandstone. I excavated this shale 

 to the depth of six feet, but having no other means than such 

 as I could procure on the spot, the influx of water soon over- 

 powered my operations. I found, however, that the bitumi- 

 nous quality of the shale increased, — fragments of it, throwing 

 out strong shoots of flame when ignited, and I was disposed to 

 think that coal was not far distant. 



I have ventured to call this formation new red sandstone, 

 considering it in the same light as the series of rocks so term- 

 ed in England, and it would appear, that this denomination 

 is in some measure corroborated by other facts, in other por- 

 tions of the same range of hills, but principally by the proof 

 of its saliferous nature. It has been shown, that at the village 

 of Kattra, the soil is impregnated with salt, which is there, 

 and in many other adjacent villages, extracted by the native 



