Capt. Grant on the Geology of Cutch. 303 



This formation continues a few miles further to the northward, where it 

 abuts against the nummulitic beds. 



o 



In many places towards its northern limits, it rises into hills, and consider- 

 able tracts of high, undulating country ; the loftier portions consisting inva- 

 riably of hard, shelly rock, including large patches, of one or two acres in 

 extent, of silicified corals ; and the lower parts, or intervening spaces, of a 

 loose gravel or clay, equally full of organic remains. Some parts of this 

 district, particularly that near the village of Kotra, have a very remarkable 

 appearance, as if they had been subjected to a violent flood, which had washed 

 away the surface-soil to a depth of 30 or 40 feet, leaving a broad, shallow 

 valley, two or three miles across, with numerous isolated and rounded bluff' 

 hills of gravel, scattered about its bed. The banks, or bounding lines, consist 

 of low hills, cut into innumerable small ravines ; the whole being composed 

 of the same shelly rock, and gravel, and clay as above described. 



The fossil shells found in this district occur often in beds, consisting of a 

 single species. One of the hillocks, above described, is about 60 yards long 

 by 20 broad, and 15 feet in height, and is entirely covered with Ostrea cal- 

 Itfera, lying loosely on a gravelly soil, or cemented into a solid rock. The 

 highest part of the table-land in one place, near the village of Kotra, is also 

 composed solely of oysters, forming a very hard rock or limestone ; other 

 isolated banks are completely covered with what appears to be a species of large 

 Serpula, or else fragments of coral. Numerous other fossils are found, either 

 lying loose or imbedded in the rock, and consist of species of Lucina, Venus, 

 Cardium, Pecten, Ostrea, Turritella, and Clypeaster. The Turriteliae are 

 imperfect, but particularly numerous. 



This flat valley or broad river-bed (for a small stream still winds through 

 it,) continues to the hills surrounding the town of Mhurr, spreading, in places, 

 into lake-basins, all of the same description as above detailed; but, a short 

 distance south of the Mhurr hills, its course is cut across by a dyke of very 

 compact basalt, of perfectly columnar structure ; each face of the polygons 

 being about two feet in breadth. This basalt forms both banks of the river 

 for 50 or 60 yards, and to the height of 20 or 25 feet; the bed of the river 

 being also formed of sections of the columns. The clay through which the 

 basalt passes is hard, and of a brick red ; and quantities of iron ore, of a 

 spongiform texture, are scattered about. 



The southern base of the Mhurr hills is now approached, and presents a 

 most confused appearance, the country at their foot being shattered in all di- 

 rections. It is impossible to conceive ground in a more disturbed state. The 



