564 Notes on Geology and Mineralogy of Affghanistan. 



From Sukkur to Shikarpore the formation is again entirely 

 alluvial, and so indeedi t continues to be up to the very base 

 of the range of mountains which skirts the plains of Cutchee 

 or Cutch Gundava. Proceeding from Shikarpore towards 

 Dadur, the three first marches are through thick jungles of 

 Mimosa and Tamarisk, with occasional clearings for cultiva- 

 tion. Beyond this the desert of Cutchee commences, spread- 

 ing in a wide and arid plain without a shrub or a blade of 

 grass. The soil of this desert tract is a hard arenaceous 

 clay, containing scales of mica, and some calcareous parti- 

 cles. This alluvial tract of country is bounded on two sides 

 by mountains forming offshoots from the great Solimaun 

 range. They appear, generally speaking, to be composed 

 of secondary rocks, some of which furnish abundance of 

 nummulites and other marine shells, while about forty miles 

 distant from the town of Bagh, is a sulphur mine which has 

 long been worked, and contains several large chambers, from 

 which, in by-gone days, the mineral was extracted. This 

 mine is still resorted to, and was farmed out in 1839 to 

 twenty men, who paid a sum of rupees 700 to the Governor 

 of Bhag, then a brother of Mehrab Khan, the ruler of Kilat. 



The produce of the mine is native sulphur, of excellent 

 quality, both massive and crystallised, in octohedral prisms 

 of a clear amber colour. Within one of the chambers is a 

 spring of petroleum, which falls in drops from the roof, and 

 is received into a well excavated in the floor. The adits of 

 this mine lead into very extensive and spacious chambers, 

 which have evidently been excavated by man in more pros- 

 perous days, although the wonder-loving Beloochis swore 

 they were all natural caves, of unknown extent. The cham- 

 bers are lighted by native lamps or chirags,* and the adits 

 are in some places so narrow, that the miners are obliged 

 to creep in on their bellies ; and from this circumstance it 



* Little earthen saucers of oil with a cotton wick. 



