268 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OF THE SALT RANGE IN THE PUNJAB, 



or impure {Kalar). On all sides of the hill the stratification, where 

 seen, appears to be greatly crushed and folded j besides which, slipping 

 of the rocks has evidently taken place frequently, so that it is impossi- 

 ble to be certain whether the greater part of the hill is formed of salt 

 and gypsum, or whether contortion and slippage have not multiplied the 

 appearance of one large and important group of salt-beds. At the time 

 the place was visited no salt-mines were open, but there was abundant 

 evidence of old workings and an enormous quantity of the mineral 

 showing at every side of the hill. The atmospheric waste of the salt, 

 and consequent displacement and confusion along the outcrop, make 

 many parts of the ground not alone difficult to understand, but fre- 

 quently inaccessible. (See fig. 53, Plate XXX.) 



At many places on the hill, but by report in some more than in others, 



the gypsum contains numbers of small bi-pyra- 

 Quartz crystals. to tit iti 



midal crystals of transparent or slightly reddish 



quartz, frequently of great beauty and regularity. They are sometimes 

 known by the name of Mari diamonds, and are used for ornamental pur- 

 poses by the natives. The quantity of these must be enormous, to judge 

 from the extent of ground at the foot of the hill which glitters with 

 reflected light from their facets. Near the summit of the hill, and lower 

 down on the M^ri side, are some old Buddhist temples in ruins, having a 

 more than usually antiquated appearance in consequence of being built 

 of blocks of calcareous tufa, which occurs 2» situ not far off", and which 

 probably hardened on exposure to the atmosphere ; otherwise its dura- 

 bility would appear strange. On the opposite bank of the Indus bcr 

 neath this hill the continuation of the salt-marl may be seen at the base 

 Kalabdghbank of the ^^ a much higher elevation, and the thin flaggy 

 ^^^^^- and shaly zone, vertical and greatly twisted on 



the Mari bank, as far as it can be followed by the eye on the other side 

 of the river, seems to form an open, contorted, synclinal bend, beneath a 

 thick but broken band of salt, partly concealed and not continuous. 

 Immediately overlying this salt and its associated marl are soft, greenish- 

 grey and orange, sandy and clayey tertiary beds, thrown into bold 

 ( 268 ) 



