1848.] Report of the Kohistan of the Jullundhur Doab. 293 



banks, shows that there has been not only one, but several inundations 

 in succession, and, moreover, that some were greater than others. One 

 cannot look upon each heap, but as the lasting memorial of a particular 

 flood, marking the exact spot, where it had exhausted the greater part, 

 if not the whole, of its transporting powers. 



25. Now the difficulty is, how to account for the origin of these 

 floods, which have left so many traces of their occurrence behind. 

 There seems to be but one mode of accounting for them ; viz : the es- 

 caping of pent up waters from the different valleys. It appears almost 

 certain that for a considerable period after this country was first up- 

 heaved, large bodies of water were retained in the hollows formed be- 

 tween the ranges. I think there cannot be much doubt about the 

 valleys having been lakes for a considerable period after their first 

 formation ; for all along the Jaswan Dhoon are thick horizontal depo- 

 sits of loose sand and gravel of comparatively modern date. Also in 

 the Kangra valley are thick beds of clay, or sandy- clay with large boul- 

 ders embedded. These boulders are mostly of granite and clay-slate, 

 and were derived, most probably, from the Chumba range. Now, as 

 the pergunnahs of Billoo and Kangra form the lowest portions of the 

 valley in question, the course of the Guj would be one of the natural 

 outlets, by which any body of water which remained behind, would 

 escape : and the different bodies of water, escaping from time to time, 

 would necessarily carry with them the loose materials, which in any 

 way obstructed their progress, and would deposit them in the manner 

 we now find them. 



26. The boulders embedded in the clay are in every stage of decom- 

 position. In many instances nothing but the faintest outline is left to 

 mark the original size and form of the boulder. It then can only be 

 distinguished from the matrix by the difference in the colour, and in 

 the composition of the materials. When travelling in the hills near 

 Simlah, I frequently remarked in the clay -slate certain circular rings, 

 within which the materials were of a more sandy nature, and also much 

 less compact, than those composing the indurated clay. I then felt 

 puzzled to account for their presence, but now the striking similarity 

 between those and the ones I have since seen in the softer clay of the 

 Kangra valley, induces me to attribute to them a common origin. 



i 27. Before concluding this report, I beg leave to make a few 



