1 843 .] of the Punjaub and part of Afghanistan. 201 



be ascertained, as it occupies the whole extent of the mine, but it is 

 upwards of several hundred feet. 



Characters of the Rock Salt. — The rock salt in colour varies from 

 white to flesh or brick red, granular, the concretions being very large 

 and very compact, so much so, that various ornamental articles are cut 

 out of it. I was presented with a series of small vessels of it, which 

 were highly polished ; in pieces of about an inch in thickness it is 

 transparent or semi-transparent ; it occasionally assumes the stalactitic 

 form, several stalactites of a pure white colour, and more than a foot 

 long were brought to me. This salt is extensively used throughout 

 India, and is so pure as only to require grinding. 



At 8 a. m. the thermometer stood in the shade at 45°, in the mine at 

 82° ; but owing to the particular state of the air, it appeared to be 

 much more ; to health it is most prejudicial ; the natives informed me 

 that all of them suffer severely, after working a few years, from affec- 

 tions of the chest, so much so, that the average period of life with them 

 does not average more than from thirty-five to forty years ; all present- 

 ed a most sickly appearance, similar to that which we observed in indi- 

 viduals living near to marshy districts in the Pinjore valley. 



Relations of the Strata. — The relative position which the strata bear 

 to each other, is well seen in the section formed by the bed of the 

 nullah. Here we have a red compact sandstone forming the funda- 

 mental rocks) and inclining at an angle of from 35° to 55° ; resting up- 

 on it we find the red marl in which the rock salt occurs imbedded. 

 Gypsum does not occur in beds, but imbedded masses in the marl. In 

 color the marl is red, green, greyish white, &c. Forming the superin- 

 cumbent rock there is a breccia, consisting of red sandstone, marl, gyp- 

 sum, and limestone, held together by calcareous matter, and resting 

 in an unconformable position, as the rock at Jelalpore, and like it the 

 limestone boulders contain organic remains, and in such quantity do 

 they occur as to lead to the supposition, that it has been almost 

 entirely, though not exclusively, formed through the agency of the 

 fossil animals. Since the brilliant discoveries of Ehrenberg with the 

 microscope, which have brought to light a new world of animals, the 

 old dogma, omnis calx e vermibus ; omnis silex e vermibus ; omnis 

 ferrum e vermibus, has been again revived ; the size of these animals is 

 sometimes so very minute, that Ehrenberg has proved that a million 



