PHYSICAL FEATURES. 49 



of the western end of the range) bring to the surface a sufficient quantity 

 of petroleum* to enable about 3 quarts daily to be collected, but all is 

 liable to be washed away for the time by floods. From a gypseous deposit 

 here, (thought by some to result from the action of these springs upon 

 the neighbouring limestone,) native sulphur was reported to have been 

 collected ; but when I searched for it, the barest traces only could be found. 



Viewed from the north, the aspect of the Salt Range is that of a mono- 

 tonously undulating and not very lofty ridge, 



aSP6Cu« 



upon which some conspicuous summits, such as 

 those of Chel, Karangli, Tilla, and Sakesar, attract the eye. Closely ap- 

 proached over ''Kuddera" ground, the range may be often observed 

 covered with scrubby jungle and on limestone slopes by a mass of 

 Su,nhetta-\ and BehekarX shrubs, through which it is difficult to work 

 a passage. Having once left the plateau, almost everywhere on the 

 ascent the bare rock protrudes, presenting a striking uniformity of grey 

 and greenish or red tints, the latter sometimes predominating and some- 

 times replaced by a dusky orange; all these brighter colours beino- 

 restricted to argillaceous rocks. On the undulating plateaux small 

 patches of cultivation lie between rocky undulations dotted or covered 

 with Sunhetta jungle, trees of any size being almost entirely absent 

 everywhere along the range. 



Seen from the south, the scarcity of vegetation and the bright colour- 

 ing of the red, purple, grey, orange, and whitish rocks of the cliffs and 

 slopes, present a strong contrast to the other aspects of the range ; the 

 fan-shaped accumulations of detritus at the mouths of the torrent g*orges 

 encroaching upon each other to form a stony belt, slightly concealed 

 by thin, starved-looking jungle, which only adds to the sterile appear- 

 anee of the ground. The whole of this dry and sun-burnt face of the 



* Lyinan — "Punjab Oil Lands;" Report to Public Works Department, Lahore Govern- 

 jnent Press, 1870. 



t TJodoncea Burmanniana. (Fleming.) 



J Adhatoda vassica. Dr. Fleming's 3ud Report, p. 238. 



G ( 49 ) 



