LOFTUS — TURKO-PERSIAN FRONTIER. 253 



The same deposit is cut through by the Ab-i-Zal, in its course from 

 the higher ranges to its junction with the Kerkhah. The section of 

 the chffs at the ruins of the Sassanian Bridge over the Zal shows a 

 perpendicular height of 80 feet. 



Not having examined the west skirts of the Pushti Kiih, I am not 

 able to state whether the gravel extends N.W. of the Kerkhah; but 

 from the contour of the outer range seen from a distance, it most 

 probably does so. Eastward of the Pushti Kiih, however, it occurs 

 in the trough of the Mah Sabadan, resting, as usual, unconformably 

 on the gravels, sands, and marls of the gypsum-series. The road 

 along this valley is exceedingly painful and difficult, as the boulders 

 are of enormous size and obstruct the pathway. They cease, how- 

 ever, at the junction of the Kashghan and Hulilan streams, which 

 constitute the Kerkhah. 



Similar masses of gravel are met with in the plain of Hershel, at 

 the point where the River Shirwan emerges from the gorge of Semi- 

 ram. They repose horizontally on the edges of the gypsiferous rocks, 

 and abut against the side of the Bamii limestone-range. 



The components of this gravel, wherever met with, are essentially 

 the same ; and prove beyond a doubt that the deposit is everywhere 

 due to the same cause, whatever that may have been. 



At Dizfiil we have the following per-centage of the component 

 materials : — 



Pebbles of Character. 



1 . Compact, blue, crystalline Generally oval, or with the angles 



limestone. worn off, frequently 2 feet in 



diameter ; 43 per cent. 



2. White or cream-coloured num- Ditto ditto, but not quite so large ; 



mulitic limestone. 38 per cent. 



3. Breccia of small angular frag- Oval, 9 inches in length ; 5 per 



ments of coloured cherts in cent, 



a matrix of hard sand. 



4. Fine-grained, friable, red sand- The largest 1 foot in diameter, 



stone. cubical angles worn oif ; 5 per 



cent. 



5. Red, dull-green, and other ^ inch in diameter ; 5 per cent. 



coloured cherts. 



6. Quartzose yellow sandstone. Rounded, 3 inches in diameter; 



4 per cent. 



7. White quartz. Less than 1 in. square ; 4 per cent. 



North of Shuster I observed likewise a few angular and rounded 

 lumps of bitumen ; but in no instance was there a fragment of 

 igneous rock. Kidney-shaped calcareous nodules frequently occur, 

 ha\ing a large central cavity, lined with small crystals of calcareous 

 spar. 



The matrix is of two kinds : — 



1. Fine cherty sand. 



2. Calcareous yellow paste. 



