I860.] Geological Specimens from the Persian Gulf. 365 



and S,500, and 10,660 feet high, all which, from Bunder Ahbas belong- 

 ing to the Imam of Muscat, and the willingness of the Muscat Arabs 

 at this place to accompany travellers to them, according to Captain 

 Constable's account, might be easily visited. The highest point is 

 in 27° 50' N. L. inland. At the head of the Persian Gulf, 45 miles 

 N". E. of the village of Delim and 75 miles ~N. E. of Bushire, are two 

 other points, respectively 10,900 and 10,200 feet above the sea ; and 

 between this and the last mentioned mountain at the other end of the 

 Gulf, are points in many places varying from 2,000 to 5,000 feet 

 high, many also of which are almost close to the coast. Thus does 

 the Persian differ from the Arabian side of the Gulf, which latter we 

 have seen to be almost on a level with the sea. 



With this, ends all that I have to state from Captain Constable's 

 information and specimens, respecting the geology of the Persian 

 Gulf, which a previous personal knowledge of the coast of Arabia and 

 Capt. Constable's accuracy have enabled me to use as I have done. 

 Captain Constable has now finished his beautiful chart of the Persian 

 Gulf and has handed it in to Government, and with the completion of 

 this work my supply of geological information from this interesting 

 locality ceases ; which I regret, as one regrets the cessation of a 

 flow of conversation on a favourite subject from a friend in whose com- 

 munications one has every reason to place the greatest confidence. 



Perhaps there is no part of the world which presents such a succes- 

 sion of striking phenomena as that between Mekran and Meso- 

 potamia inclusive, — beginning with the great area of mud volcanoes 

 m the former, in which the cones range from nothing to upwards of 

 712 feet high;* and then going round by the Persian Gulf, at 

 whose entrance is an area of rock-salt culminating in the island of 

 Hormuz ; then the sieve-like state of the earth in and about the 

 island of Bahreyn occupying the middle of the Gulf — the " freshwater 

 area ;" and lastly the " area of Naphtha springs," at the head of the 

 Gulf and in the vale of Mesopotamia ; all of which are in connection 

 with the great fault and anticlinal axis which bounds on the south- 

 west and south respectively, the highland of Persia, Karmania, and 

 Mekran. 



* See Captain Kobertson's interesting and valuable " Memoir" — Journal of 

 the Bombay Asiatic Society. Vol III. part 2nd, p. S, 1850. 



3 b 2 



