of the Beloochistan Hills. 389 



the rock being there of a more yielding nature has suffered from the 

 action of the elements, and the clefts (or passes) are wider while the 

 limestone usually exhibits them in their original sharp escarpments. 

 I have reason to think that this nummulitic limestone extends over a 

 very large tract of country, specimens brought from the vicinity of 

 the Tukht-i-Sulliman having been shown to me by Lieut. Cunning- 

 ham of the Bengal Engineers, which certainly belonged to the same 

 formation. A similar rock is used for architectural purposes at Can- 

 tuel, and it takes, I was told, a tolerable polish. At Num, where I 

 first came upon this limestone, it dips at about 20° south, passing in 

 that direction beneath the conglomerate and sandstone, about a mile 

 and a half farther to the north. At the pass leading to the Deyrah 

 Valley there is a remarkable slip or fault of the limestone strata, the 

 dislocation amounting to about 300 feet. The limestone at the base 

 here dips at about 20°, that above being nearly horizontal ; and at 

 the upper margin of the fault there are some of the strata hanging at 

 various angles. This fault extends east and west of the pass for 

 many miles.* 



From this pass, proceeding north, the stratification is nearly hori- 

 zontal as far as Coombe, a place about 2,100 feet above the sea. 

 From Coombe, in a northerly direction, the limestone gradually ob- 

 tains a dip to the north, amounting at its base to about 20°, and then 

 becomes lost beneath low sandstone hills. I was unable on the line 

 of march to give these interesting sandstone hills the examination 

 they merited ; they are composed of various-coloured sandstones, 

 with the strata dipping in a northerly direction at about 1 0° or often 

 less, thus corresponding so far in dip with the limestone ; but the 

 point of connection between the latter rock and the sandstone escaped 

 my observation : this is to be regretted, as the subject is one of im- 

 portance. These hills are interesting from the vast quantity of fossil 

 bones and fossil wood which has been entombed within them ; both 

 are scattered about in vast profusion, and many cart-loads of the 

 bones could be collected from off an acre of ground. 



The wood bears the appearance of having been drifted and water- 

 worn previous to fossilization. I noticed palms and dicotyledonous 



* The point of fracture exposed is highly glahrous, as if it had heen ex- 

 posed to a grinding action. 



