570 



Correspondence . 



was informed however that there was a much richer vein in the pass 

 of Pungshur, which is said to have been worked to a great extent in 

 the time of the Ghazatais. 



The height of the pass was calculated to be about 15,000 feet above 

 the level of the sea. Here they were informed by the natives that 

 individuals are frequently seized with giddiness, faintness, vomiting, and 

 symptoms exhibited sometimes by travellers in ascending Mont Blanc. 

 Even at Simla many individuals labor for some time under the rarefac- 

 tions of the air, in a short time however they become habituated to it. 



Associated with the gneiss, mica slate, and clay slate mentioned, 

 limestone in many places is to.be met with, and near to Mydan of a 

 pure white colour fit for statuary purposes, and this same limestone is 

 said to extend west to Herat, and south to Candahar. Till the time of 

 the Emperor Shah Jehan this marble was unknown, he having received 

 his information from a Herati marble cutter, not until however he had 

 brought from a great distance, at immense expense, a large portion of 

 the marble required in the construction of the mausoleum to his great 

 progenitor Baber. Secondary limestone is also met with in many loca- 

 lities. "But," says Dr. Lord, "to attempt a generalization more exten- 

 sive perhaps than I am strictly warranted in offering, though derived 

 from many sections, in various directions, I would say, that an observer 

 in passing south, from the top of Hindu Kush, the parallel of Kalabagh, 

 would see first a core of granite (syenitic granite) with coating of slate 

 as in the grand mountain chain, next a core of slate with a coating of 

 limestone, as at Attock and Khyrabad, then hills of ancient limestone, 

 now blue, and now fossiliferous, as in the ridge between Peshawar and 

 Kohat, then a core of more modern limestone (fossiliferous) with a 

 coating of new red sandstone, as in the hills south of Kohat, and then 

 would find himself amongst aluminous clay, sulphur, gypsum, bitumi- 

 nous shale (bituminous marl slate) and rock salt, which occurs near 

 Lachi, Ismael, Khyt, and Tiri. : ' 



^\M*WlM/Wi\\ 



:\\ 



. /Hindu Kush 



\ Primitive series. 

 P Carboniferous. 

 G Saliferous series. 

 a Granite. 

 b Mica slate. 

 C c Clay slate. 

 d Limestone. 

 e Secondary limestone. 

 / New red sandstone. 

 ij Bituminous marl slate. 

 h Gypsum. 

 i Rock salt. 



This rough section will explain Dv. Lord's views. 



