G52 Notes on the Geology of the Punjab Salt Range. [No. 7. 



pretty regular, averaging 10 miles, but at either end towards Mari 

 or Jhilum it is not more than 3 miles, and the transition is somewhat 

 abrupt, and due to the higher inclination of the strata there, caus- 

 ing a corresponding decrease in width. Midway however, between 

 Sakesa and Mari the range acquires for a short distance the width 

 of seven miles. 



Towards the east the salt range may be said to commence at the 

 celebrated fort of Bhotas, 10 miles W. N. W. from Jhilum, the 

 fort being built on the end of the hilly ridge or spur which tails off 

 from the N. E. declivity of Mt. Tilla. This hill is 3000* feet above 

 the sea and forms a grand and imposing feature in the district. It 

 rises abruptly and presents an escarped force towards Jhilum and a 

 very steep slope to the N. W. To the W. N. "W. it falls rapidly 

 down and merges into the broken ground which skirts and closes 

 up the range along its entire length to the north, and can hardly 

 be termed hilly though very impracticable and deeply excavated by 

 torrents. The portion of the range now to be considered, between 

 Mts. Tilla and Sakesa is in every respect most important. The first 

 considerable hill west of Tilla is Karingli, distant 23 § miles from it 

 to the W. S. W. and between which a considerable but very circuit- 

 ous nulla (the Boonah) winds, traversing the range at this point and 

 falling, near Bhimba, into the Jhilum some 14 miles below the 

 station of the same name. Pour miles S. S. E. of Karingli is situ- 

 ated the romantic fort of Kusak ; perched on a beetling triangular 

 peak or needle, isolated by denudation from the neighbouring table- 

 land and falling with a sheer and precipitous descent towards the 

 plain to the south, which appears spread out beneath it in almost 

 panoramic order. Between Kusak and Karingli the land forms a 

 kind of flat valley, which may be regarded as the commencement of 

 that table-land which stretches with increasing breadth and eleva- 

 tion to the foot of Mt. Sakesa. At its eastern end this table-land 

 is not more than 2200 feet above the sea at most, but towards 

 Sakesa it continuously rises to about 2600 feet, bounded to the 



* For my general ideas respecting the height of the range I am indebted to W. 

 Purdon, Esq. who was at considerable pains to check the few Barometrical observa- 

 tions by the boiling point and by angular measurements where practicable, though 

 from such scanty and disconnected data, approximation is all that can be expected. 



