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



doubted if any tertiary bed is per se saliferous, in the ordinary 

 meaning of the term. It is true, many of them become much 

 impregnated with salt, owing to the vicinity of rock salt in the true 

 salt-marl, even where this rock may not be actually exposed ; but 

 throughout the vast series of marls exposed in the range, no instance 

 occurs of their yielding a brine which is not plainly derived from 

 the salt marl and rock salt. The tertiary marls yielding brine, as 

 mentioned by Major Yicary and others, must in all probability be so 

 circumstanced ; being evidently the same ossiferous series that occurs 

 in the Eange, the brine being derived from some deep-seated bed of 

 rock-salt or marl corresponding to the salt-marl of the Eange. 



The last deposit to be noticed in connection with the range is one 

 of the most recent date. It consists of a confused and mostly 

 unstratified accumulation of debris, forming a fringing talus along 

 the entire south base of the range, not shelving gradually to the 

 plains, but terminating somewhat abruptly in a number of bluffs 

 some 40 feet or so in height, separated at irregular intervals by 

 creeks or inlets, and the whole having evidently once formed a 

 submarine bank, originated in the action of the waves on the crum- 

 bling coast-line of the range. It is widest at Pind Dadun Khan, 

 where it is fully three miles broad ; one mile, however, may be taken 

 as rather above the average breadth. It consists entirely of debris 

 from the range, and under the hills receives yearly additions by the 

 masses brought down by rain from the hills. From its porosity and 

 dryness, the jungle growing on it is thin and stunted : it forms, how- 

 ever, a valuable grazing tract for camels and other beasts belonging 

 to villagers in the plains. 



Having described the stratified rocks of the Eange, I may here 

 briefly notice some rocks, which (though not connected with it) are, 

 from their position, not without interest. I allude to the small 

 cluster of hills between the Jhilum and Chinab rivers, called the 

 Karana hills, the most prominent peak of which is 24 miles south 

 south-east (S. S. E.) from the station of Shahpur, and a little over 

 40 miles in a direct line from the nearest point in the Salt Eange. 

 These hills rise somewhat abruptly from the plains in detached 

 ridges or clumps, the highest scarcely attaining 600 feet. They are 

 composed of a species of slate, the slaty structure being but feebly 



