670 Trip to Pind Badud Khan and the Salt Range. [July, 



lage of Tober, where during the rains, on account of the heat and mus- 

 quitoes, the inhabitants of the salt mine village of Keurah are obliged 

 to take refuge, completely deserting the latter. It is situated at a 

 considerable height above the salt mine to the west of the road to Ku- 

 tass, and is built on the sandstone strata which rest on the saliferous 

 red marl. The access to it is by a narrow footpath cut out of the 

 rocks, the ascent of which is very steep. The huts of the village are 

 all built of stone, cemented with mud and are flat-roofed. Beyond this 

 village are a succession of heights rising one above the other of sand- 

 stones and conglomerates, the former at times highly calcareous and 

 dipping to the N. at an angle of 35° or 40°. Ascending towards the 

 white cliffs above the village of Ruttipind or Goomrali, one comes on a 

 series of friable white and yellow calcareous sandstones of a coarse kind, 

 succeeded by a series of dark-coloured bituminous shales full of gypsum 

 and pyrites and interlaminated with thin beds of a yellow clay. These 

 shales are from 30 to 35 feet thick, and inclosed in them I discovered 

 two seams of coal, the lower 2 ft. thick and separated from the upper, 

 which is 4 ft. thick by about a foot of shales. Both seams were traced 

 down a valley for 50 or 60 yards, but the coal does not appear so good 

 as that of Keurah, being more brittle and containing a good deal of clay. 

 Above the shales is a yellow marl containing a few shells ; and super- 

 imposed on this the same limestone containing abundance of fossils as 

 found at Keurah, Dundhote, &c. Covering this is the white siliceous 

 limestone full of flints. It contains fossils, and forms the summit of 

 the hills of the range. On reaching the top of these a series of valleys 

 running east and west is presented to view, yielding good crops and 

 abundance of sweet water, and forming a striking contrast to the south- 

 ern aspect of the salt range. Close to the village of Ruttipind there is 

 a large kutcha tank of water. In the afternoon got back to Keurah 

 and visited another salt mine about | mile distant, called Lugoowalla. 

 This mine yields a very large quantity of salt of the best quality, and 

 is very easily worked. The entrance to it is at a considerable height on 

 the side of a hill, and the descent into the mine is by a series of steps. 

 The salt is close to the surface, and in the interior of the mine enormous 

 masses of salt are lying which have become detached from its roof and 

 sides, and under which the various passages lead to an immense distance. 

 The temperature of this mine was much lower than the Keurah one 



