50 PERSONAL NARRATIVE. 



The head-man was very civil, and sent us some supplies. 

 We spent a couple of days here, Carter mapping, I 

 working at the geology and collecting. The village is 

 near the head of the Taranta, which, if the information 

 obtained by Carter's interpreter was correct, is not the 

 name of a mountain, but of the well-known steep pass 

 leading from the Haddas valley to Dixa. 



The whole plateau around Halai is composed of meta- 

 morphic rocks, as is the northern part of the great Tsaro 

 spur to the east of the Haddas gorge ; sandstone comes 

 in south of Halai, near the village of Dhera, and south of 



VI.H*I.AI PLATEAU. 



ASAWAr PLKTEAU. E, 



this, as far as Takonda, caps all the higher portions of 

 the plateau, the intervening valleys being cut into the 

 subjacent metamorphic rocks. The southern portion of 

 the Tsaro or Asawat plateau, east of the Haddas, is an 

 unbroken mass of sandstone like Sowera. The greater 

 portion of the sandstone is white and massive, bands of 

 conglomerate occasionally occurring, sometimes with a 

 brick-red matrix, ferruginous bands being common. 



In the Haddas gorge a ridge capped with about 300 

 feet of sandstone occurs in a peculiar manner. It is at a 

 much lower elevation than the same rock on the plateaux 

 on each side, its top being about 1,500 feet below their 



