296 



On the Sevdlik Bills. 



[Oct. 



Eastward of the Ganges it has been found, to the north of the Morada- 

 bad distiict ; and it agrees in every respect with that found elsewhere. 

 It has also been met with at points still more easterly; but the examin-^ 

 ation of that tract has been very slight. The most interesting point at 

 which I have found lignite, is at the mouth of the Kalowali Pass, one of 

 the entrances into the Deyra Dhoon, from the plains. A stratum or 

 bed of yellow and red sand, about 18 inches thick, is there completely 

 charged with lignite, either in long flattened masses, or in transverse 

 sections of trunks of trees, which show, by their elliptifal form, effects 

 of vertical pressure. The lignitp, in these cases, constitutes merely the 

 outer covering; the interior of the trunk being composed of the sand- 

 stone matrix. The bed is enveloped in strata of the marl, abounding in 

 the remains of animals ; and both the lignite bed and the marl, appear 

 at this point most distinctly to have been deposited in a hollow ; the 

 beds, at their lateral extremities gradually attenuating, until they meet 

 the sandstone rock ; and the lower surface being concave. Although the 

 marl is evidently limited at this spot, it seems to exist so generally in 

 extended strata, that, supposing it to have formed tracts of marsh land, 

 those tracts must have been very extensive. I have before remarked, 

 that I have seen the marl only on the southern limits of these hills, be- 

 tween the Jumna and Ganges. In crossing the former river, however 

 the same stratum, with the same organic remains, is met with on the 

 north of the mountain ridge, on which the town of Nahun stands. Here 

 the upheavement has been more violent than elsewhere ; and the point 

 of junction of this tract with the higher Himalayas is consequently much 

 dislocated. It is necessary to state, that there are appearances of 

 trap* in the neighbourhood of these disturbances ; a fact which may 

 lead hereafter to an interesting geological disquisition on the point 

 of junction. Fossil wood, apparently dicotyledonous^ abounds in the 

 sandstone The woody fibre is generally perfect but impregnated with 

 the sandotone, and frequently mixed with carbonaceous matter ; in which 

 case the fossil is black, and on fracture has the appearaucn of an inti- 

 mate mixture of coal and sand, or of an imperfect coal. The only re- 

 mains of animals yet found are fragments of tortoises. 



Marl, with Organic Remains. — As the marl is in greatest abundance 

 in this section, I will now give an account of its organic remains ; 

 confining myself to classes and genera. These fossils are in appearance 

 perfect, and the deep black colour which they have derived from hy- 



• Dr. Falconer has made the same observation. Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. ir. 

 p. 50 ; date of communication, 3d January 1835. 



