192 Captain J. Franklin on the Geology of a Portion of Bundelcmid, 



indeed, it appears to correspond with the central portion of the new red sand- 

 stone of England. 



From the crest of the Tara Pass to the foot of the second range of hills 

 near Kuttra, the whole tract is a platform varying from a perfect level only by 

 occasional protrusions of the rock above the surface ; and it increases in 

 elevation in a south-west direction. In the part where I passed, except im- 

 mediately on the crest of the hill, the platform is covered with "^ canker/' 

 either intermixed with the alluvium, or in beds, as in the Scroti river near 

 Buroundu, where it reposes on sandstone. This part of the range is not rich 

 in minerals or metals; but another portion of it is remarkable for containing 

 the diamond mines of Punnah, and the extensive iron mines of Kutola. 



I ascended the second range of hills at the pass of Kuttra, and found near 

 the top of it a thin stratum of red clay and sandstone, interstratified in thin 

 laminaB, and surmounted at the summit by friable and variegated sandstone. 

 These beds resembled the red marl of England, and they reposed on a friable 

 slaty marl, which was also in thin laminaB, and coloured by chlorite. The 

 slaty marl rested upon massive beds of a rock horizontally stratified, and re- 

 sembling grauwacke. 



The summit of the second range is a platform like the former, and varies 

 from a perfect level only by the same description of undulation. In order to 

 examine its composition, I visited all the water-falls between the Kuttra Pass 

 and the Tonse river. 



The first of these cataracts is near the village of Billohi, about twelve miles 

 west of the pass of Kuttra. The fall of water is 398 feet, and the escarpment 

 nearly perpendicular. At the bottom I found fragments of chlorite-slate ; but 

 the lowest bed in situ was a thin stratum of fine argillaceous sandstone, 

 tinged deeply by red oxyd of iron, and containing mica disseminated in small 

 particles. Upon it reposed a bed of siliceous sandstone. These strata were 

 compact and hard. They were covered by a thick bed of variegated sand- 

 stone which continued to the surface. 



From the cataract of Billohi, I proceeded to that of Bowttee, ten miles further 

 west. This is a stupendous chasm, and highly picturesque, not so much from 

 the fall of water, which is 400 feet, as from the extent of the cirque, the per- 

 pendicular height of which is 420 feet. At the bottom was a greenish white, 

 arenaceous sandstone, not quite so compact as that of Billohi, though perhaps 

 a continuation of the same ; and upon it, commencing at the depth of 300 feet 

 below the surface, was a variegated or mottled stratum ; to this succeeded 

 another of red, purple, or salmon-colour, which extended to the surface. 



The cataract of Kewti, twenty-four miles west from Bowttee. and those of 



