INTKODUCTOUY. 3 



— the Bakrdla or Diljaba ridge, thai of which Mount Jo<^i Tilla forms 

 the summit, and the Pubhi or Kharian hills south of the Jhelum. The 

 latter, indeed, hardly belong- to the Salt Range proper, being separated 

 from it by the valley of this river, but form a small independent antieliual 

 chain aligning itself more with the Salt Kange than the outer Himalaya. 



The Salt Range proper lies entirely Cis-Indus, forming a somewhat 



elevated border to the Rawal Pindi plateau (lying 

 Situation, length, &c. 



to the north), and throughout its wLole length of 



about 152 miles presents its steep declivities and lofty escarpment cliffs 



towards the vast plains and deserts which spread from its foot through 



Sind to the sea near Kurrachee. 



It appears to have been the fashion to speak of the Salt Range 



N'ot continuous mth of the Punjab as extending across the Indus' 



Trans-Indus salt-field, ,i i,im tt u • i 



through the Trans-Indus salt region and up to 



the Sufed Koh in Afghanistan — an error adopted from some of the 



earliest writers on the neighbouring countries. Both geographically 



and geologically, the continuation of the Salt Range westward manifestly 



lies to the south of the Trans-Indus salt region, the salt of which 



is believed to be of entirely different age and position from that of the 



Salt Range proper."^ 



Contributions to the geological literature of the Salt Range have 



Previous Observers' been SO numerous in various forms, chiefly as 



publications, &c. j. i. r> j. > ■ ,• 



^ reports to (jovernment or papers to societies, 



and some of these have been so copious, that extended notice of each 



would exceed the space which can be fairly devoted to them here.f 



The past sixty-one years have witnessed the appearance of about 

 forty-two papers or records concerning this subject, and others may have 

 escaped observation. To those to which access could be obtained notice 



* See Memoir on the Trans-Indus Salt Region, Memoirs Geological Survey, India, 

 Vol. XI, pt. 2, P. 32. 



f See list of references appended to preface. 



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