590 W. J. Hamilton, Esq., on the 



Country between Kodj-hissar and Mount Argaus. (Section 7.) 



A very gently rising alluvial plain extends from the Salt Lake almost to Kodj- 

 hissar. At the foot of the hills near that village, the horizontal beds of white 

 limestone rest, as before described, unconformably upon the red and brown 

 sandstones, and immediately to the eastward occurs the granite mass which, 

 rising up through the sandstones, has produced the anticlinal dip of the strata. 

 About three miles east of Kodj-hissar is an extensive table-land composed of 

 the horizontal white limestone,but it is at a very much higher level than the beds 

 at the village, and it rests upon brown sandstone and sandstone conglomerate, 

 containing much selenite, which also occurs upon the surface or mixed up 

 in the soil. Interstratified with the sandstone was a thick bed of milk-white 

 fine-grained or compact gypsum. Hills of soft laminated sandstone, appa- 

 rently of the same formation, continue, for some miles, to a range of high 

 rugged mountains of grey granite resembling that of Kodj-hissar, and extend- 

 ing in aS.E. direction for nearly thirty miles. Before reaching these hills, the 

 ground was covered for some way with boulders of the granite and a large- 

 grained porphyritic trachyte, derived from some rugged hills to the north. 



My road led along the northern slope of these granite mountains, and in 

 the distance, to the north, I could clearly distinguish successive ranges of 

 hills which, from their colour and stratification, evidently belong to the red 

 sandstone formation. These granite hills are strikingly distinguished from 

 those composed of trachytic rocks, by the numerous springs, which burst forth 

 on their northern slope; but the water is soon absorbed by the sandy soil which 

 covers the declivities of the hills, derived from the disintegrated granite. 



Twelve miles from Kodj-hissar a trap or claystone porphyry dyke crosses 

 the road, stretching nearly N.E. and S.W. or N.N.E. and S.S.W. The 

 granite in contact with the dyke is reduced to a state resembling Kaolin. 

 Several ridges of granite extend to the N.E. from the principal chain. 



To the north-east of these hills is an extensive, alluvial plain, through which 

 a stream flows, in wet weather, W.N. W, into the Salt Lake ; butthe channel 

 was dry, when I was there. After crossing this plain, the road leads along 

 the N.E. side of a gradually narrowing valley, which is bounded on the S.W. 

 by the above-mentioned grey granite, and on the N.E. by trap and other 

 igneous rocks. Near the commencement of the valley, I crossed an extensive, 

 insulated table-land, composed of an horizontal bed of volcanic tuff or peperite, 

 capped by another of the same material but much harder. In the softer bed, 

 numerous caverns have been excavated, leaving the hard stratum for a roof. 



Descending again from this table-land into the valley, several protruding 

 masses of greenstone or serpentine were observed in the line of section, and 



