KHASI HILLS. 113 



This flat space, nearly half a mile in width, is a remarkable feature 

 Former lake bed. in the hiUs. It has all the character of a dried-up 



bed of a former lake, and is one of the very few instances in which such 

 appearances are seen in these hills. Greenstone occurs at both sides of 

 the flat space, and appears to form "the surface below, but a thick covering 

 of clay and sands conceals all the rocks ; and on rising uj) the steep 

 slope on the North towards Sohiong, the same gneissose and highly 

 micaceous rocks, as have been described in the Cherra valley, again ap- 

 pear. These are well seen in the village of Sohiong; they consist of thin 

 bedded gneiss and micaceous slates, with hard gritty quartzose layers, 

 dipping at high angles, or nearly vertical. They are much twisted both 

 in plan and section, but have on the whole a dip to the S. E. at angles 

 varying from 60° to 85°. The old road, which passes close under the 

 rude entrenchments of the village, exposes them well, and they are also 

 seen on the side of the beautifully wooded glen to the East, on the 

 verge of which the village is built. 



Northwards from Sohiong, the same rocks continue, but on the whole 

 Veins of granite, &c. they gradually become more crystalline and solid, 

 and the frequent recurrence of large blocks of granite points to the exis- 

 tence of many veins, or intruded masses of that rock, the boundary and 

 extent of which cannot, however, be easily traced. Such is the case in 

 the neighbourhood of Nung-bree, again near Myrung, and still further 

 to the North, at Nuug-rumai (commonly called Normal) ; but the 

 general surface of the country is composed of these gneissose and slaty 

 rocks. 



The constant occurrence of these masses of granite, and also of minute 

 CryatalUne texture of ^^^"^^ ramifying among the layers of the slates 

 '^°'^^^- and gneiss, gives convincing proof, that the thick- 



ness of these rocks is here very slight, and that the great mass of the 

 granite, which is well seen at a short distance to the East and West, 

 continues at no great depth below the surface, under the gneissose beds 



