THE LATABAND AND KABUL. 



45 



From Pul-i-Charki to Kabul the road runs partly over Siwalik beds — 

 current-bedded sandstone, conglomerate and clay— and partly over 

 alluvium. To the north, the metamorphic rocks of the Kabul series 

 crop out from below the younger deposits, but a ridge at about two miles 

 to the south-west of Pul-i-Charkhi is apparently composed of limestone 

 of the Khingil series, dipping at a high angle to the north-east. 



From Mr. Griesbach's description of the road over the Lataband (10, 

 23; 13, 69), it would appear that the rocks met 

 with are very similar to those of Tangi Gharu. 



The Siwaliks cover the greater part of the surface to the east of the 

 pass and I am indebted to the courtesy of Dr. W. Saise, 1 late Superin- 

 tendent of the East Indian Railway Company's collieries in Bengal, for 

 the information that patches of carbonaceous matter, like those noticed 

 in the Upper Siwaliks of Khurd Kabul, occur near Barikab. At Seh 

 Baba there are large masses of serpentine associated with schist and 

 limestone. The rock on the Lataband is limestone, evidently belonging 

 to the Khingil series. It extends to within 5-| miles of Butkhak, where 

 it is replaced by red Tertiary conglomerate resting on schist and gneiss. 

 From Butkhak onwards the road passes chiefly over alluvium. Ter- 

 tiary beds, however, form most of the hillocks between Bagrami and 

 Kabul. At Siah-sang, just beside the road, a small patch of the 

 Kabul crystalline series crops out from below the younger rocks. 



Nothing is known of the geology of the country along the third 

 Tezin and Khurd route between Jagdallak and the Haft Kotal, but 

 Kabu1, viewed from a distance the ranges of Tezin appear to 



be formed of limestone, which may either belong to the Khingil series 

 or may be Cretaceous. West of the Haft Kotal, the open country as 

 far as Khurd Kabul is covered almost entirely by younger Tertiarv 

 deposits. At Tangi Tarakki, about four miles to the east of Khurd 

 Kabul, these deposits consist of soft shales, often carbonaceous, with 

 creamy white marls and thick beds of conglomerate. All these appear 



1 The services of Dr. Saise were recently engaged by the Amir for the investiga- 

 tion of certain supposed coal seams on the Lataband and in the Ghorband valley. 



