SON PLATEAU. 20 1 



much of which comes from carboniferous rocks. The " purple sand- 

 stones " are seen in gullies, and further up the " speckled sandstones " 

 crop out ; but close to the scarp there is but little seen of the carboni- 

 ferous and overlying beds till the nummulitic limestone, thick and 

 massive, rises in bold cliffs to the edge of the plateau above. 



Section X. — Son Plateau. 

 The Son Sakesar plateau is the largest and broadest in the whole 



range: it includes the country about Chamil, 

 Situation. . . 



Sodhi, the hilly tract near the latter place, to 



the southward, and the larger area, chiefly occupied by the carboni- 

 ferous limestone, between the southern escarpment of the range and the 

 S6n valley proper. The principal place within the plateau is Naoshera, 

 nearly in the centre. The table-land possesses this peculiarity^ that 

 while the northern half presents the greatest sameness and simplicity of 

 geological structure (if the formation of the lake basins be excepted), 

 the southern side, particularly beneath the escarpment, is one of the 

 most complicated tracts in the whole range, owing to the heterogeneous 

 disposition of the groups by reason of dislocation, land slips, contortions, 

 and erosion. 



For 26 miles westward from the Pail country last described, the 



Tertiary sandstones and s^me relations prevail between the tertiary sand- 



hummulitic Umestone. g^^^^g ^^^ ^^^^Qs and the underlying nummu- 



litic limestone. Within this distance the whole border of the Potwar 

 plateau rises gradually, and throughout most of it the plateau of the 

 range and that to the north are separated by a less marked and less 

 abrupt declivity than usual. 



The tertiary sandstone ground being high, its excavation, where 

 formed of the softer sandstones, &e., into gullies, ravines, and Ichud- 

 dera, has necessarily been extreme; this hhuddera ground always 

 ending at the boundary of the nummulitic limestone. About Jaba 

 where the softer beds encroach upon the limestone, more or less hori- 

 Kontality of stratification obtains ; but further west, steeper, yet still 

 B 2 ( 201 ) 



