Mr. Fraser's Journey from Delhi to Bombay. 157 



passed some remarkable rocks in beds,, consisting of gravel, concreted by a 

 cement with the nature of which I was not acquainted. 



A little further on we came among sandstone hills, brown, red and grey, in 

 horizontal strata. The fort and town of Bang are built on a hill of this descrip- 

 ^ tion ; and our route continued among sandstone of the same nature for six or 

 eight miles, the heights differing little in appearance from the low trap hills of 

 the other parts of the country. The strata were horizontal ; and the whole 

 being covered with thin short jungle, the change would not be readily remarked, 

 were not the rock of the whole country, which rises to the surface in our very 

 path, composed of the same sandstone. It was difficult to preserve specimens 

 of this rock, as they soon mouldered away : it is generally very crumbling, 

 and of various colours, from dark brown and heavy red, to yellow and dead 

 white: and in some portions there is a great admixture of clay. The colours 

 were in strata, and all horizontal. In several of the hills composed of this stone, 

 we remarked that the sandstone was overlaid by strata of compact yellowish- 

 grey limestone in beds varying in thickness, but apparently from ten to 

 twelve feet thick, above which there was a thin coat of soil. This limestone 

 evidently much resembles that first remarked on entering the trap formation 

 near Neemuck. 



Descending further towards the Nurbuddah, into the valley of Nemaur 

 (or rather, I believe, the district of Ally Mohun), we again found the black 

 basalt, which in the bed of one stream approached the columnar form. The 

 whole bed of the Nurbuddah is here worn in a basaltic rock ; and at the period 

 we crossed it, having little water, it was sunk from sixty to one hundred feet 

 below the level of the surrounding country. Above the basalt, close to, and for 

 a few miles distant on each side the banks, the light-coloured fine clay, 

 before alluded to, is found to considerable depth. 



Some few miles below the point at which we crossed the Nurbuddah, the 

 Sautpoora range of mountains, which intervene between Nemaur and Can- 

 deish, approach close to the river's bank, and are met by the Vindhya range 

 on the other side, so that the river forces its way through a succession of rapids, 

 which obstruct the navigation for several miles. The Sautpoora differ ex- 

 tremely in appearance from the Vindhya mountains, being bold and romantic 

 in the outlines, rising into lofty peaks, and swelling into shapes that would 

 induce the beholder from a distance to consider them as primitive : he is, how- 

 ever, soon undeceived, for on approach the same structure in horizontal strata 

 becomes apparent; and notwithstanding the diversity of their outline, and 

 more picturesque appearance, the description given of the Vindhya range, and 

 the catalogue of the substances there found, will also apply to the Sautpoorah 



