4 Geological Notes on the Khasi Hills. [No. 1, 



at first expected to see, the series appearing so continuous with the 

 sandstones of Maobelurkur, where coal is found, and even worked, but 

 I think now there is enough evidence to show that a line can be 

 drawn between the lower and coarser beds, and the upper finer ones with 

 coal. The manner in which the general denudation has acted, in- 

 directly proves this ; the lower, older and therefore harder beds remain, 

 withstanding this force, while the higher and softer have disappeared 

 fast and over a larger area. Extending through the whole mass of 

 the beds, there is a very perceptible tendency to thin away at a very 

 low angle towards the base of the main ranges, i. e. southward, and 

 at the same time to thicken, I believe, quite as much in the lower 

 series as in the upper. This, with irregular bedding, renders it very 

 difficult, without the closest scrutiny, to be certain of the exact portions, 

 as the conglomerates resting on the granite incline to the beds with coal 

 at Maobelurkur. The coal itself is very local in its distribution. We 

 see at Cherra how soon it fines out and almost dies away on the road 

 towards Surarim. 



The conglomerates in the valley near Langiong, bear in their com- 

 position a close resemblance to the great thickness of like rocks seen 

 below the cretaceous beds above Nongphriam, in the deep valley, east 

 of Cherra Poonjee ; and I think they are, in both these positions, the 

 lowest in the series. Should this view be correct, the greatly denuded 

 patch of sandstones that form a higher plateau west of Pumsungut, 

 together with Mao Shinghi Hill, &c. are the representatives of the 

 higher beds, forming a part of the nummultic series, the coarse grit 

 and conglomerate being the very lowest of the cretaceous rocks ; the 

 well developed later beds containing fossils only come in with their 

 increased thickness further south, but on this latitude they are absent. 



I have not had the leisure or opportunity of examining any of the 

 country adjacent to Cherra Poonjee itself. It has been examined by far 

 abler and professional geologists ; I will therefore, make no further re- 

 marks in connection with this area into which I had begun to wander. In 

 the section through the Bogapani, a series of schistose, yet sandy rocks is 

 seen in close contiguity to the trap, and it occurs successively in two 

 valleys. No like formation is to be found among the series of the sedi- 

 mentary rocks, that have retained their almost normal position ; they 

 are quite distinct, and seem to form the oldest trace of a much earlier 



