s 



sandstone, and the upper part of coal measures surmounted by 

 basalt. The top stratum of the sandstone is a conglomerate, and 

 the same formation contains two beds of nodular limestone or 

 cornstone, the lower of which is about 12 feet thick. The strata are 

 said to dip regularly towards the centre of the hill at an angle of 

 about 7°. 



The coal-field is represented to have the form of the figure 8. 

 The strata are said to be about 150 feet thick, and to dip towards 

 a common centre at an angle of from 3 to 5 degrees. Three beds of 

 coal have been discovered, varying from 1 foot 7 inches to 2 feet 

 6 inches in thickness, but the coal is of inferior quality to that of 

 the Titterstone Clee Hill. 



Three faults are described, and stated to range nearly parallel to 

 each other, and to traverse the coal measures in a north easterly di- 

 rection. One of them, the author observes, is marked by a dyke of 

 basalt connected with an overlying mass of the same rock. It is 13 

 yards in horizontal thickness, and though the wall of the dyke is so 

 hard as to require to be blasted, yet the coal is not in the least 

 charred. 



The overlying basalt is shown to form the two highest points of 

 the hill, one of them being 1800 feet above the level of the sea, 

 and the other 1600. 



A memoir " On the Geology of the Banks of the Indus, the In- 

 dian Caucasus, and the Plains of Tartary to the Shores of the Cas- 

 pian," by Lieut. Alexander Burnes, was then read. 



The author has endeavoured in this paper to embody the geolo- 

 gical observations which he made on a journey during the years 1831 

 and 1832, up the river Indus and across the lofty range of Hindoo 

 Koosh to the Caspian Sea. 



He first describes the province of Cutch, situated near the eastern 

 mouth of the Indus. He states that it is mountainous; that the 

 soil is either rocky or sandy, with masses of lava scattered over its 

 surface; and that sulphur, coal, iron and alum are found in the 

 district. 



Nummulites occur in a ridge near the right banks of the Indus. 

 The delta of the river is composed of a succession of beds of 

 earth, clay and sand of different colours, sometimes parallel, and 

 sometimes having one stratum dovetailed into another. The sea 

 is described as being discoloured to a distance of three miles by the 

 detritus carried down by the river, with regard to which it may be 

 stated that the base of the triangle of the delta is above 125 

 miles. 



After mentioning a range of hills called the Hala Mountains, 

 vi^hich extends in a northerly direction from the sea-shore west- 

 ward of the mouths of the Indus, and terminates to the N.W. of 

 Cabool in the Hindoo Caucasus, and which consists, in part of com- 

 pact nummulitic limestone, the author proceeds to describe the 

 principal geological features which he observed on the banks of this 

 great river. The town of Hydrabad, he states, is built on a finely 

 grained, shelly limestone. At Schwan in lat. 26° 22' and at Curachee, 



