GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. 251 



survey of the -western extension of the Salt range from the Indus to 

 the outskirts of the Suliruan range beyond Shakh Budin. The 

 Salt range proper, or eastern section, between the Indus and 

 Jehlam rivers, had been examined by Mr. Wynne in 1869-70, with 

 the assistance of Dr. W. Waagen, for the paleontology, but the 

 report -was not published till 1878, when it appeared as Vol. XIV. 

 of the " Memoirs," forming a volume of over 300 pages. The 

 range had long been known as one of the most interesting and 

 important regions in British India, its geological interest being 

 enhanced by its highly fossiliferous rocks, and its importance chiefly 

 derived from its enormous deposits of rock salt. Years before the 

 British conquest of the Punjab, our officers penetrated thither and 

 reported on the geology of the region- In making a detailed 

 examination, Mr. "Wynne had the advantage of the excellent maps 

 constructed by Captain D. G-. Robinson, R.B., one of the best set of 

 maps ever produced in India. * The Salt range occupies historic 

 ground, one extremity resting upon the ancient Hydaspes or Jehlam 

 river, the other on the Indus, while its eastern extension overlooks 

 the battle field of Chilianwala, which is marked by a memorial 

 obelisk built of materials taken from the range. The Mayo mines 

 in the eastern plateau of the range are probably the most extensive 

 salt mines in the world. Old chambers occur in them up to 

 320 feet in width and 130 feet in height, besides natural shafts 

 formed by rain water, one of which is 312 feet deep. The old 

 workings had long been in a dangerous condition, and disastrous 

 falls have taken place — one in 1870. When visited in 1869-70 the 

 position of the miners was anything but enviable, perched upon 

 a lofty tripod of slender sticks and picking at a roof full of fissures 

 and unsupported for many yards. The colour of the salt is red and 

 white, red earthy or merely coloured layers being very numerous 

 in some of the beds. The main mass of the gypsum overlies the 

 salt, aud is succeeded by the purple sandstone and other groups in 

 their proper order. The Salt range geology is peculiar and differs 

 greatly from that of neighbouring countries, so far as they are 

 known, comprising as it does various consecutive palaeozoic, 

 mesozoic, and tertiary formations, and even including among the 

 older rocks a group of Silurian age. Nevertheless, there is a 

 remarkable degree of continuity preserved throughout the deposits. 

 The range thus forms a continuous series, embracing alternations 



* See Mr. Markham's notice of these map?, p. 121 of "Memoir on the Indian 

 Surveys," (2nd Edition). 



