McMahon ^ RucUeston — Fossils from the Hindu Khoosh. 



I. — Fossils from the Hindu Khoosh. 



By Lieut.-Gen. C. A. McMahon, F.E.S., F.G.S., aud W. H. Hudleston, 

 M.A:, F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S. 



Part I.— Fossil Beds and Associated Eocks at Chitral, By 

 General McMahon. 



THE fossils described by Mr. Hudleston, F.E.S., in Part II of this 

 paper, were found by Captain B, E. N. Gurdon, C.I.E., D.S.O., 

 Assistant Political Agent, Chitral, on the right bank of the Chitral 

 river, between Chitral and Mastuj. The spot where they were 

 collected is indicated by a small cross marked on the accompanying 

 sketch-map (Fig. 1), which has been based on the map of the 

 Pamirs compiled under the direction of the Eight Hon. G. N. 

 (now Lord) Curzon to illustrate a paper by him published in the 

 Journal of E.G.S. of 1890.^ My son, Major A. H. McMahon, C.S.I., 

 C.I.E,, F.G.S., in company with Captain Gurdon, visited Mastuj 

 in October, 1900. He indicates the strata in which the fossils were 

 found as follows : — 



" As regards the fossils, they all come from a bed of limestone 

 exposed in a cliff on the right bank of the Chitral river, immediately 

 opposite Eeshun. Eeshun itself is on the left bank of the river, 

 about half-way between Mastuj and Chitral. It is, by the way, 

 the place where Edwards and Fowler made their brilliant defence 

 and were treacherously taken prisoners in 1895. 



"This year, after my arrival at Chitral, I made a flying tour of 

 treble marches and more a day, from Chitral to near Mastuj and 

 back, and give you the result of such geological observations as 

 I was able to make. From Dir - northwards, I use the names given 

 in Curzon's map. 



1. " At Malakand itself there is a broad, nearly vertical dyke, 

 of white granite, about a hundred yards wide, which runs nearly 

 E.N.E.-W.S.W. Between Ashreth and Mirkandi there is a great 

 deal of granite. Owing to the vegetation and surface soil it is hard 

 to tell the direction of the strike. At a point between Ashreth and 

 Mirkandi granite disappears, and I have seen no more traces of it 

 in situ northwards in Chitral. 



2. " Just before coming to Mirkandi I noticed some conglomerate, 

 and I think there is a bed of it here, but I am not sure owing to 

 vegetation and surface soil. I have marked its probable line of 

 outcrop on the accompanying diagrammatical sketch (Fig. 2, Bed 1). 



3. " Close to Mirkandi, on the opposite bank of the river, a bed 

 of red sandstone rock crops out, like the red sandstone near Tasin, 

 described at p. 358, vol. Ivi, Q.J.G.S. This runs, as shown in 

 the diagrammatic sketch (Fig. 2), past the back of Kala Drosh 

 (see Fig. 2, Bed 2). 



1 Published as a separate map by Edward Stanford, Charing Cross^ 



"^ Dir is about nine miles south of the Lowari Pass, marked on sketch-map, Fig. 1. 



