576 Notes on Geology and Mineralogy of Afghanistan. 



of the sandstones and fossilliferous blue marls may be con- 

 sidered as farther evidence in support of this suggestion. 

 The coal measures and oolite exist below Subathoo in the 

 Western Himalayas, and are found in the Bolan Pass; they 

 are greatly elevated and inclined in. both localities ; while 

 the tertiaries are likewise found in both countries, contain- 

 ing identical strata, and in both instances resting con- 

 formably against the secondary rocks ; the prevailing dip of 

 the strata both in AfFghanistan and in the Himalaya likewise 

 appears to be the same, namely, towards the East and N. 

 East. 



It appears probable from the remarks of the late Dr. 

 Lord upon the phenomena exhibited in the Khyber Pass, 

 that the geological formations there met with are in a great 

 measure the same as those of the Bolan Pass ; but it does 

 not likewise appear that the conclusions he has drawn from 

 those phenomena are just or satisfactory, especially as re- 

 gards the occurrence of fresh-water shells in a fossil state. 



" Unquestionable geological facts," he observes, " such as 

 the structure of igneous rocks poured out under strong 

 pressure, the presence of fossil shells, &c. lead me to the 

 belief that several, if not all, of these valleys were at some 

 former time the receptacles of a series of inland lakes, 

 and the nature of the shells found (principally Planorbes 

 and Paludinae) seems to indicate that the waters of these 

 lakes had been fresh. In this manner three grand sheets of 

 water separated by the mountain deflexions before alluded 

 to, would appear to have occupied the entire country from 

 Cabul to the Indus, and their basins may now be distinguished 

 as the plains which afford sites to the three cities of Cabul, 

 Jellalabad, and Peshawur. The drainage of these basins 

 is most tranquilly carried on by the Cabul river, which 

 runs along the northern edge of each, conveying their 

 united waters to the Indus ; but in former times, when more 



