XII. — Desa^ption accompanying a Collection of Specimens made on a 

 Journey fro7n Delhi to Bombay*. 



By JAMES B. FRASER, Esq. 



[Read January 13, 18'-2'2.] 



J. HE small collection of specimens connected with the following- pages^ 

 form the chief part of a series^ by which I intended to have exemplified the 

 rocks that might occur in a journey from Calcutta to Bombay. But many 

 circumstances, which it is unnecessary to detail, conspired with the insuffi- 

 ciency of the collector's science to render this plan in a considerable degree 

 abortive. 



I had particularly to lament my ignorance of Geology, during the first part of 

 the journey from Delhi to Bombay, when our route lay among primitive moun- 

 tains, full of interest to the geologist. This, no doubt, frequently occasioned 

 my omitting to take specimens where they would have been important, and 

 may have rendered those taken far less valuable than they would have been 

 if more judiciously selected : at the same time I may observe, that it was 

 made a particular object to select only such parts of a rock as were unattectcd 

 by exposure ; to take a specimen of every new rock that came under observa- 

 tion ; and, where possible, to note the junction of different predominating sub- 

 stances ; with such other particulars as my own observations, or the instructions 

 I had received from others, induced me to consider worthy of attention. The 

 collection would have been more complete, had I fortunately preserved all 

 that I took ; but from the inattention of servants, or from the loss of a whole 

 parcel, it was too late discovered that many of the most valuable were miss- 

 ing, and the extent of the loss I cannot exactly state. 



I have purposely omitted adverting to tiie country through which our route 

 led from Calcutta to Delhi, and to the districts south-east of the Chumbul, 

 fearing to mislead in any attempt to describe them from memory : but what- 



* See Mr. Frascr's route in the map, Plate XXIV. — The spelling of the names of places, on 

 the map and in this paper, is the •;ame with that employed in Airow^milh's large map of India. 



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