364 Geological Specimens from the Persian Gulf. [No. 4, 



" Near Busra is a place called by the Arabs " Om Gheir"or " the 

 place of bitumen ;" and close to the town of Koweyt, at the head of 

 the Persian Gulf, is another on the sea-shore called " Benaid el 

 Qar" or "bitumen dyke;" while up at this part of the Gulf I have 

 reason to think that there are also springs of it under the sea, for 

 in August 1843, when in a ship 12 miles N. N. E. of the little 

 island called " Farsi," we passed through a field of it. The surface 

 of the sea was covered with a glairy, oily looking substance which 

 was accompanied by a strong smell of Naphtha. 



" Again in October 1859, while sailing from the little island of 

 Kubbar to another close by called Garu, we experienced a strong 

 smell of Naphtha, and presently passed through large sheets of oily 

 substance floating on the surface of the sea. Our Arab Pilot whom 

 I had engaged at Koweyt said that this appearance was by no means 

 uncommon, and that he was certain there were springs of it near this 

 part, and that he knew where to take his boat to collect it, but he did 

 not know how to collect it or he could make a fortune by it." 



The last addition to our geological information made by Captain 

 Constable is that obtained from his specimens of the Dehmaniyah 

 group of islands which lie close to the shore a few miles west of 

 Muscat, all of which are formed of limestone like that of the eocene 

 strata of the adjacent coast, while a specimen of old diorite from 

 Khor Fakn, 165 miles further up towards the Persian Gulf, is also 

 of the same kind as that of Muscat. 



As regards the heights of the mountainous range called Jebal 

 Akdthur whose extreme summit inland, as seen from the sea close 

 to Muscat, I had judged to be about 6,000 feet,* Captain Constable 

 by triangulation makes this 43 miles inland and 9,900 feet above the 

 level of the sea. The highest point near Pas Mussandum, 6700 feet, 

 and Jebel Bees, a mountain about 25 miles inland on the Mekran 

 coast opposite, stated at a guess in my last " report" to be from 5 to 

 6,000 feet, is now made by triangulation, to be only 4,600 feet above 

 the sea ; but there are points which lie inland to the northward of 

 Bunder Abbas, respectively, 20, and 30, and 45 miles distant, 7,600, 



* Geology of the S. E. coast of Arabia ia my " Geological Papers on Western 

 India," p. 555.— lb. 533. 



