U SOANE VALLEY. Cbap. II. 



little above great beds of limestone, had been taken for 

 such, and as indications of coal. 



On the following day we visited Rajghat, a steep ghat 

 or pass leading up the cliff to Rotas Palace, a little higher 

 up the river. We took the elephants to the mouth of the 

 glen, where we dismounted, and whence we followed a 

 stream abounding in small fish and aquatic insects (Dytisci 

 and Gyrini), through a close jungle, to the foot of the cliffs, 

 where there are indications of coal. The woods were full 

 of monkeys, and amongst other plants I observed Murray a 

 exotica, but it w 7 as scarce. Though the jungle was so 

 dense, the woods were very dry, containing no Palm, Aroi- 

 dece, Peppers, Orchidea or Perns. Here, at the foot of the 

 red cliffs, which towered imposingly above, as seen through 

 the tree tops, are several small seams of coaly matter in the 

 sandstone, with abundance of pyrites, sulphur, and copious 

 efflorescences of salts of iron ; but no coal. The springs 

 from the cliffs above are charged with lime, of which 

 enormous tuff beds are deposited on the sandstone, full of 

 impressions of the leaves and stems of the surrounding 

 trees, which, however, I found it very difficult to recognize, 

 and could not help contrasting this circumstance with the 

 fact that geologists, unskilled in botany, see no difficulty in 

 referring equally imperfect remains of extinct vegetables to 

 existing genera. In some parts of their course the streams 

 take up quantities of the efflorescence, which they scatter 

 over the sandstones in a singular manner. 



At Akbarpore I had sunk two thermometers, one 4 feet 

 6 inches, the other 5 feet 6 inches ; both invariably indi- 

 cated 76°, the air varying from 56° to 79^°. Dew had 

 formed every night since leaving Dunwah, the grass being 

 here cooled 12° below the air. 



On the 19th of February we marched up the Soane to 



