Chap. IT.] the Himalayan series. . 61 



evidence is very conflicting. First let us consider the lithological evidence. The arrange- 

 ment of the earthy matter in the rock bears very strong testimony to a sedimentary origin : 

 besides the diffused earthy matter there are always present fine lamina?, or very thin conti- 

 nuous layers of clay, which exhibit a coincidence in strike and 

 Origin of the salt. 



dip with those of the associated strata. Another important 



characteristic of this salt rock is the occurrence through it of small angular pebbles ; they 

 are irregularly scattered through the mass. Out of a number of these pebbles most were 

 recognizable, with much probability, as of. the rocks immediately associated with the salt, 

 pink quartzite sandstone being the most frequent ; some are of limestone. The evidence of 

 these pebbles is however not all on one side of the argument. If they be really fragments 

 of the Krol rocks, the salt deposit cannot be cotemporaneous with that formation ; nor yet 

 can it be pseudo-morphosed limestone of that formation ; on the other hand, the tolerably 

 uniform distribution of these pebbles in the mass, and their uniformly small dimensions are 

 opposed to the supposition of the rock being, in any sense, the result of forcible crushing. 



We may next examine the circumstances of position. Besides the accidental fact already 

 noticed in the position of this salt rock, — along a line at a distance, varying from one 

 hundred yards to a quarter of a mile, from the boundary of the Sub-Himalayan rocks, there 

 is an important constant peculiarity, resulting in a feature of contour too small to be shown 

 on the map. From the main ridge short spurs or head-lands project at intervals ; towards 

 their extremity, these expand longitudinally, so as to form rather flanking hills than true 

 spurs, and are connected with the ridge by a line of gaps. The drainage of course follows 

 the physical features, — the several small streams bifurcate into these small longitudinal 

 valleys. The rocks of this outer belt are not the same as those of the main ridge ; limestone 

 predominates. It is associated with red and brown slaty shales, all greatly contorted along 

 a general north and south strike. In the main ridge, as already stated, trappean rocks 

 prevail. The salt rock occurs along the contact of the main and minor ridges. It did not 

 appear to me that this line was a fault line, at least there is no sharply defined fault : 

 highly foliated hornblendic schists and quartzites appear sometimes outside (west of) the 

 salt rock, and also remnants of limestone to the east of it. Both these cases occur at Guma. 

 Peculiarities of position, such as are pointed out in this paragraph, suggest an adventitious 

 origin for the saline element. 



Some peculiar rocks associated with the salt rock give us a third item of evidence. In 

 contact with, or near the salt rock, there are always to be found varieties of rotten 

 rock, showing different degrees of resemblance to the salt rock itself, often having th& 

 appearance of being only varieties of that rock from which the salt had been dissolved out, — it 

 is a salt-gossan. In connection with this rock, supposed to be a weathered residue of a 

 saliferous rock, there occurs an undecomposed rock, which strongly resembles the true 

 salt rock. For example, in the Suketi at Mundi, a few hundred yards above its con- 

 fluence with the Beas, the massive Sub-Himalayan sandstone is vertical, with a strike 

 north 10° east ; in contact with it is about fifty feet of sandy limestone ; next to this 

 follow about one hundred feet of the bright red calcareous, earthy, pebbly rock, the 

 representative of the salt rock ; next to it comes massive trap-rock. Again to the north in 

 the river east of Beer, this peculiar rock, — the salt rock, but with the salt represented by 

 carbonate of lime> — occurs twice in the same cross section, associated with the usual limestone 



