SMYTH ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE TAURUS. 339 



Around Hakirn Khan are crumbling marls, in vertical or highly 

 inclined positions, running N. E. and S. W. ; above which rise a 

 few remarkable peaks of bare white limestone. 



Towards Hassan Tchelebi, on the road side for six miles, diorites 

 and serpentine rocks appear, the heights above which, often 

 wooded, and said to be tenanted by wild goats and deer, are of 

 limestone. These calcareous strata, having a moderate inclination 

 to the westward, continue visible as far as the village last mentioned. 



From Hassan Tchelebi, for about twenty miles, the rocks are 

 hidden' by vegetable mould and grass ; though fragments of por- 

 phyry, limestones, and marls are found. 



From Alajah Khan, for a distance of four or five miles, diallage 

 rocks, often much discoloured by iron, are found ; and after this 

 appears limestone, tilted towards the west, then for some distance 

 before reaching Kangal, and from thence as far as Delikli 

 Tash, the slopes are covered with thin grass. 



The chain of the Anti-Taurus (Itschitchegi Dagh), attaining an 

 elevation of 5800 feet, runs in a very marked line from W. 8.W. to 

 E.N. E. The limestones of which the higher part is formed, rest 

 on serpentine ; which appears to have coloured and hardened the 

 beds of shale, near the surface of contact. Immediately on the 

 west, towards which side the beds incline, granular gypsum ap- 

 pears in beds of considerable thickness on both sides of the road ; 

 and on this lies salt, the presence of which is betrayed by a lake, 

 whose waters evaporate in summer. Eighteen miles from Delikli 

 Tash is found a quartzose sandstone in strata from 2 to 6 feet 

 thick, inclining gently towards the west, and between this and 

 the deeply cut valley of the Kizil Irmak (Halys), that rock con- 

 tinues without interruption. 



The preceding observations collected in the course of a single 

 traverse are not a sufficient foundation on which to base general 

 conclusions as to the constancy of the order in which the rocks 

 occur ; but since the mere enumeration of the rocks in geogra- 

 phical order is, in general, but a dry repetition, and, for want 

 of comparison with some known scale, is not easily kept in mind, 

 it may be of advantage to conclude with a sketch of the probable 

 order of the formations above mentioned, which may serve as a 

 guide to future travellers in these districts. 



The oldest stratified rocks of the series are unquestionably the 

 limestones and chloritic slates of Kebban Maden, which appear to 

 be in connection with the mica slate, forming the nucleus of the 

 Taurus at Adanah : they overlie a felspar porphyry, which seems 

 to have pierced them in dykes, and near the contact affords ores of 

 argentiferous lead. 



The second deposit may be the quartzose sandstone which oc- 

 curs between the range of An ti- Taurus and Siwas ; and this 

 deposit, no doubt, belongs to the system observed by Hamilton 

 near Eregli *, to the south of Kaisariyeh, towards the head of the 



* These saliferous deposits are probably more recent than the Scaglia Lime- 

 stones. W. J. H. 



z 2 



