164 KHASI HILLS. 



in"- to this determination, therefore, there would be in the Khasi hills 

 representatives of the old red sandstone ; of the carboniferous ; of the 

 new red sandstone ; of the cretaceous and of the tertiary groups. 



Now whatever doubt there may be as to the relative position of the 

 limestones which occur at the base of the hills in many places, and those 

 found at the top, there can be no question whatever as to the relative posi- 

 tion of the sandstone in which these echini occur, and of the limestone 

 and coal of the Cherra Poonjee station, inasmuch as the succession of 

 beds can be uninterruptedly traced upwards from the one to the other. 

 If therefore these sandstones, occurring on the slope of the hill, belong, 

 as Dr. McClelland thinks probable, to the new red sandstone group, it is 

 difEcult to see how he can refer the limestone and coal, which occur 

 some 1,500 feet stratigraphically above them, to the carboniferous 

 epoch. 



There does not appear to be any ground for supposing that this hme- 



stone belongs to a different geological era from 

 Limestone and sand- ° o o • 



stone couformable. t]jg sandstone below it. They are both perfectly 



conformable, and have formed a continuous and uninterrupted series of 

 deposits, the calcareous nature of some of the sandstone beds proving 

 that the sources of lime existed long prior to the formation of the purer 

 calcareous muds, now constitutmg the limestones. It is possible that 

 some of the sandstone beds may have been geologically coeval with the 

 upper or latest portions of the cretaceous group of Europe (and this 

 question can only be decided by a careful comparison of the organic 

 remains) : but there is littk doubt that the Cherra limestone is of the 

 older tertiary or Eocene epoch, (a) 



(a) While thus ditfering altogether from the conclusions of Dr. McClelland, I am 

 • ansiouB to bear testimony to the general accuracy of his descriptions ; and to state my con- 

 viction that the errors in his deductions arose as much from the state of geological know- 

 ledge at the time he wrote, as from any want of proper investigation ont he part of the 

 author. The notion; by no means fully exploded in 1S3S, that good coal could only be 

 found associated with rocks of a certain era in geological succession, would seem to have held 



