ECOXOJ[IC llESOURCES : ORNAMENTAL STONES. 299 



light and porous stone was probably easily cut while fresh, hardening 

 to a certain extent on exposure. It is not, of course, calculated to 

 retain fine sculpture or tracery, but it appears in exposed situations 

 to have withstood the action of all weathers wonderfully well. The 

 blocks are rough and often much decayed in places, but still they retain 

 their positions in the body of the buildings, being, perhaps, more closely 

 bound together by calcareous infiltrations. The material at best is liable 

 to decay (less so, perhaps, in the Salt Range climate than elsewhere), 

 and from its porous nature can oppose little resistance to crushing force ; 

 hence it would be unsuitable for large modern works. 



Ornamental Stones. 

 The variegated and banded concretionary limestone of the num- 



mulitic rocks on the plateau above the head of 

 Variegated limestone. citiii 



Sardi glen has been a good deal quarried for 



ornamental purposes. Knife-handles of various kinds and paper-weights 



are made of it, and the church of Shahpur is said to be flagged 



with it. When polished, the curved laminae of the stone are plainly seen ; 



thin, purple, and yellowish or grey lines often simulating the structure 



of fossil wood. Some of this stone is also reported to have been used 



in the construction o£ the houses of wealthy natives along the southern 



face of the range and at a distance towards Lahore. The stone is also 



said to be found in one or two other places in the neighbourhood, but 



the exact localities could not be learned. 



Another stone used much in the same way as the variegated limestone 



is a part of the hsematitie band at the base of the 

 Haematite. 



nummulitic limestone; portions of this when 



polished exhibit red, greenish, and white markings which often resemble 



sections of amygdaloid. 



The chert or flints of the limestone-beds, particularly of the 



nummulitic limestone, are used as chak-maks 

 Chert. 



to procure fire, and the Sikhs are reported to 

 have made gun- flints from them. 



( 299 ) 



