1840.] 



On the Geology of Cutch, 



343 



and peeling off in scales down the face of the wall ; and secondly, from 

 my having met with the same phenomena on a smaller scale, in other 

 parts of the country, where the slahs of rock are at all angles, and even, 

 as those before mentioned, turned over. It should be noticed, also, that 

 the borders of the Runn, near these walls, are composed of friable beds 

 of the laminated series, covered with thick tabular masses of hard sand- 

 stone, precisely similar to those forming the walls. 



Had they been uplifted during the permanent prevalence of the waters, 

 the sloping talus of earth and fragments of rock, with which they are 

 all backed, must have been washed away. It should be stated, that 

 these examples are situated on ground now almost recovered from a 

 state (if Runn ; some parts having been sufficiently augmented by means 

 of the sandy alluvium, washed down from the neighbouring hills to sup- 

 port vegetation ; whereas the isolated rocks, several of which rise out 

 of that part of the Runn, and are still subjected to inundation, have no 

 detritus or talus, but present smooth walls of perpendicular rocks. I 

 could never perceive any water-marks on them, nor any remains of 

 marine testacea, which might occur, had the sea ever washed the pre- 

 sent level of their foot. It is probable that their original base lines have 

 become obliterated by the sediment which must have accumulated round 

 them in course of time, and which forms the existing surface. 



A very good example of a similar wall occurs in the centre of the 

 province, near the village of Rampoora ; it is a ridge of coarse sandstone 

 about 300 yards in length, and from 10 to 15 feet in height, the stones 

 being evidently placed edgeways, and in so regular a manner as to re- 

 semble precisely an artificial wall. It rises from a base of the same 

 sandstone, and on one side it is nearly flat, but broken into masses, while 

 on the other side are heaps of stone, broken and confused, and the in- 

 terstices are filled with sand and small trees. At the extremity of the 

 wall the stones slope up like the end of a roof. In the immediate vici- 

 nity of this wall is a small range of basaltic hills, striking however at 

 right angles to the direction of the sandstone ridge. 



Some of the rivers which flow towards the Runn from the Cutch side 

 are lost in the sand at their mouths ; though at a short distance up the 

 bed of the river, the stream runs freely. It would thus appear, that at 

 these spots, the bed of the Runn has been increased, by the sediment, 

 probably, brought down by the stream; but so loose is the soil, that the 

 water soaks into it and even flows under it, instead of wearing channels. 

 This phenomenon is observable in the sandy beds of many of the rivers 

 in the province. The stream may be noticed running with some rapidity 

 and of a sudden to cease, the bottom of the river presenting a smooth 

 sandy surface ; but a mile lower down the water again issues and con- 



