LOFTUS — TURKO-PERSIAN FRONTIER. 297 



acicular crystals and containing numerous large, empty, vesicular 

 cavities. This rock is not observed in the immediate vicinity, though 

 the lofty black peak to the south, called Seah Kiih, is probably com- 

 posed of it. The stone is black, but in particular lights looks bluish ; 

 hence its name, " Kel i Shin," " the blue tombstone." The upright 

 stone at the head of a grave is called in Kourdish " Kel ;" and cer- 

 tainly the form of this ancient landmark is precisely that of a grave- 

 stone. The hard and vesicular nature of the stone must have ren- 

 dered it a matter of difficulty to cut the inscription, which, I imagine, 

 was originally but rudely executed and always somewhat illegible 

 on this account. Its long exposure has not of course bettered its 

 condition. 



The view from the Kel i Shin into Turkish Kourdistan is of the 

 most rugged description ; — lofty jagged peaks, having their summits 

 capped with eternal snow, raise their heads out of deep and pre- 

 cipitous valleys, the heat of which seems, as it were, to be indicated 

 by the deep red colour of the rocks. 



Wild grandeur is the peculiar feature of the scene, and it is 

 among its vast mountains and difficult ravines that the Nestorian 

 Christians have their fastnesses. 



Section from XJ'shnu to Mergdver, over the Bi7'd i Zerd and Kuh 

 i Vliikh Passes. Fig. 14. 



The following descending section is observed at these Passes : — 



1 . Cream-coloured limestone, sometimes compact, and containing 



carbonate of copper in quartz. 



2. Alternating layers of thin, purple, argillaceous limestone and 



carbonate of lime. Each layer compact and heavy, and 

 easily separated. 



3. Thick beds of altered blue limestone ; sometimes hard, com- 



pact, and crystalline ; and at other times composed of thin 

 layers, alternating with others, coloured light-yellow and 

 purple. The latter variety exhibits much contortion. On 

 the S.W. side of the pass, between Bird i Zerd and Kiih i 

 U'lukh, the limestone of the former mountain is white, 

 weathering cream-coloured, and is impregnated with copper. 

 The beds dip to the S.S.W., at an angle of 40°. 



4. Bluish-green altered schists, with serpentine. 



5. Grey granite, exceedingly friable. At Kiil i Rundulah, it 



passes into rudely columnar blocks of various sizes. 



At a point where the Frontier range dips into the plain of Mer- 

 gaver, which it bounds on the west, there is a remarkable black 

 conical peak, having in the distance a very igneous aspect, its sloping 

 sides being covered with cinereous-looking rocks. On visiting it, 

 however, the black mass proves to be limestone, completely metamor- 

 phosed by the action of heat. The lowest visible beds are black, 

 broken up into small fragments, and covered with black powder, as if 

 they had been half-burned. They give out a strongly bituminous 



