COAST BETWEEN KARACHI AND SONMIANI. 191 



plain cut up by ravines, in which no rock is seen ; then a stream is 



crossed, in which olive and light-brown thin- 

 West of Pabb range. 



bedded sandstones and shales are exposed, much 



hardened and cut up by small quartz veins, and closely resembling- some 



of the Makran eocene strata and the lower Khirthar beds of the upper 



Gaj section. The spot is nearly north of Gadani. 



Four or five miles farther, the road descends to a flat sandy plain 

 near the sea shore. The descent is over a cliff of hard sand beds, hori- 

 zontal, unfossiliferous, and very false-bedded. The sand is rather coarse, 

 and much resembles that forming sand-hills near the shore. It is 

 difficult to tell how this deposit has accumulated ; it may be simply 

 blown sand consolidated, or it may be fresh water and alluvial. The 

 cliff itself is probably due to marine denudation, and its distance from 

 the sea may indicate a rise of land. 



The cliff continues for about 12 miles to the westward from the spot 



where the road descends to the coast plain ; then 

 Near Sonrciani. 



the higher ground recedes from the sea, and there 



is nothing but a low sandy plain, apparently alluvial, all the way to 



Sonmiani. Far to the westward, the hills of Hinglaj are seen running 



out to Ras Malan ; they appear to be in great part composed of Makran 



beds, but time did not permit of their being visited. 



( 191 ) 



