SKETCH OF THE 



of the contiguous districts. — Tiie great central range of hills, and by- 

 collateral, or rather concentric ranges of which the valley of Udaypur 

 is surrounded, forms, as it were, the back-bone of this portion of the 

 country. To the north it passes through the Ajmer district, and extends 

 south towards the Narbudda, the line of continuity between it and the 

 primitive formations of Southern Hindostan, being interrupted by the 

 great overlying trap formation which extends from the north of Mahva, 

 running across to the Coast south of Baroda, and which, from thence, may- 

 be traced skirting the ocean as far as Cape Comorin, being continued 

 even into the Island of Ceylon.— To our south and south-west, we have 

 the diluvial formations of Guzemt, which are probably succeeded, in a 

 northerly direction, by rocks of a decidedly new class. I have every 

 reason to believe that a series of newer rocks occur to our west. I have 

 seen specimens from Kutch, the banks of the Run and Jesselmer,^' of a 

 decidedly recent formation. Salt Lakes are known to occur in the 

 districts both of Jesselmer and Bikaner to our N. W.; the rock salt 

 of Lahore is well known, and this last mineral, we are also informed, is 

 of abundant occurrence in the Desert. Directly to our north too, we have 

 every reason to conclude that a similar formation exists. The SamhJiar 

 Lake, which lies betwixt Ajmer and Jaypur, though, as I am informed, 

 situated in a primitive district, is salt. Indeed, all this portion of India is 

 supplied from the lake in question with salt for common domestic pur- 

 poses, and almost all the wells in the north of Ajmer and Jaypur are 

 impregnated with muriate of soda. — Now, the only conclusion which we 

 can draw from this circumstance is, that a rock salt formation occurs some- 

 where to the north of these districts, and at no great distance from them. 



* A compact brownish limestone from Jesselmer, containing numerous but indistinct traces of 

 organic remains, has been used extensively in tlie Commercial Litliographic Press of Calcutta, and it 

 has been found, for all common purposes, a good substitute for tlie expensive European stones.—. 

 The public are indebted to Lieutenant J. T. Boileau, of Engineers, for bringing this stone to 

 notice.— Sec\ 



