LOFTUS TURKO-PERSIAN FRONTIER. 257 



8. Brown indurated clays, passing into jasper. 



9. Jasper, chiefly red, and brown-veined. 



10. Waxy indurated limestone, whitish, green, grey, blue-black, 



and black ; some varieties approaching marble. 



1 1 . Brownish and pinkish quartzite-sandstone. 



12. Flinty slate, from grey to black. 



13. Shining black flinty slate, with semi-conchoidal fracture. 



14. Highly indurated serpentine, almost flinty (rare). 



15. Granite, of fine-grained variety; greenish-grey colour; con- 



sisting of quartz, dark mica, and a very little greenish feld- 

 spar (very rare). 



16. Fragments of angular gypsum ; evidently not transported from 



a great distance. 



17. Pebbles of bitumen, slightly rolled. 



With the exception of the last two, all the other ingredients of this 

 gravel are much rolled and rounded; and generally they do not 

 exceed an inch in diameter. 



At Akker-Koof, twelve miles N.W. of Baghdad, the ruins stand 

 upon a slight elevation of gravel, consisting of the same pebbles as 

 at Iskenderia, excepting those mentioned in the list as rare. 



In addition I collected there the following — 



Flat pebble, with its exterior weather-worn ; interior showing 

 hornblende and feldspar of bottle-green colour (rare) . 



Pinkish granite, composed of quartz, feldspar, and oxide of iron 

 (rare) . 



Porphyry ? (one) . 



Light-brown compact limestone, with veins of serpentine. 



Limestone, of a brown matrix with small Nummulites imbedded 

 (rare). 



Coralline limestone (rare). 



Rolled bitumen ; and doubtful fragment of bone. 



Many quartz, jasper, chert, and limestone pebbles, flattened, — so 

 as to be easily mistaken at first sight for coins. 



The following is a rough per-centage of the pebbles found at Isken- 

 deria and Akker-Koof: — 



per cent. 



Quartz 30 



Chert, flint, and jasper , 40 



Limestone, sandstone, flinty slate, serpentine, porphyry ?, 1 orv 

 granite, and nummulitic and coralline limestones J 



At Zobeir, near Busrah, the calcareous sands and superimposed 

 gravels are largely developed, and may be traced northwards at inter- 

 vals across the desert to near Siik-el-Sheioukh, on the Euphrates. 

 In some localities the gravel is wholly composed of white quartz, and 

 at others of coloured cherts. 



Wherever wells exist in these deserts, the water is invariably bitter 



VOL. XI, PART I. T 



