1848.] and on its Coal and other Minerals. 509 



2 miles above Kalibag, dip to the N. at an angle of 35°, forming rug- 

 ged precipices of considerable height, which overhang the river. 



The sandstones become more and more compact as the central ridge 

 of the range is approached, have a dirty red colour and are seen to rest 

 on the nummulite limestone, beneath which the usual deposit of bitu- 

 minous shales, strata of variegated sandstones and saliferous marls oc- 

 cur, and are well seen at Kalibag, where the Indus escapes from its rocky 

 channel into the wide plains of Esaukhail and Kutcha. 



Coal of the salt range. — From the remarks which we have made in 

 the course of our report, it will appear that the oldest formation noticed 

 in the salt range, and that on which the others are based, is a number 

 of what is commonly known under the name of the new red sandstone 

 formation — a formation, which as far as the observation of geologists 

 have yet extended, invariably occupies a position superior to the true 

 coal measures in the crust of the earth, and has never yet yielded a coal 

 of any commercial value. The neglect of this fact has on too many 

 occasions been the cause of the outlay of large sums of money by in- 

 dividuals who, had they possessed but a slight amount of geological 

 knowledge might have saved themselves from much disappointment. 



The remark of Sir H. De la Beche, on this subject, is so true, that we 

 give it in his own words. He says, " a little black shale or piece of 

 lignite is often sufficient to cause the expenditure of £2 or 3000 in 

 localities where there is not the slightest probability of success." 



"Good bituminous coal," says Ansted, "fit to be worked extensively 

 for economical purposes, does not occur out of the carboniferous group 

 of rocks in Great Britain," and the same rule applies to the continent 

 of Europe. To declare however, that no good bituminous coal will 

 ever be found on the surface of the globe except in the position above 

 stated, would be rash in the extreme, and the researches of Professor 

 Rogers in Eastern Virginia, in the United States of America, would 

 seem to render it extremely probable, that the thick beds of coal, 

 which there occur, do not belong to the true coal measures, but repre- 

 sent on a large scale, the coal fields of Brora in Sutherlandshire, which 

 has been worked from time to time since the close of the 16th century, 

 and which by the researches of Mr. Lyell and Sir Roderick Murchison, 

 have been clearly proved to belong to the oolitic formation. Similar 

 deposits of coal occur and have been worked at Scarborough, &c, but 



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