HILL Y ARK AND. 
107 
or rather more — the ground is extraordinarily fertile, 
but outside the irrigated tract there is absolute 
desert. 
From the day we entered the Karakdsh valley 
until our return, the air was filled with a dense haze, 
which limited the view so much that, very often, hills 
five miles distant were barely visible, and it was 
difiicult to get a good idea of the country through 
which we travelled. On the return journey we found 
the SanjU' stream very much smaller, and followed 
it the whole way from Sanju to Tam. I then made 
a sketch of the geological structure of the country, 
from the top of the Kuen Lun to the plains of Yar- 
kand. This sketch was made from a very rapid 
survey, but I believe it to be correct as far as it goes. 
On our return we halted for breakfast near the vil- 
lage of Kibris, ten miles above Sanju, when I was 
fortunate enough to find some vertical strata con- 
taining fossils, which I submitted to Mr. Etheridge, 
of the Eoyal School of Mines, who supplied me with 
the following report on the fossils and the section 
of the country : — 
" Dr. Henderson has submitted to me a piece of very 
crystalline limestone, entirely composed of crinoidal re- 
mains, and which I unhesitatingly refer to the genus 
Bhodocrinus. This genus is highly characteristic of 
the carboniferous or mountain limestone of Europe and 
America, and there is no reason to doubt but that the 
specimen under examination belongs to beds of that 
age. According to the section made by Dr. Hender- 
son, the beds succeeding this limestone may be coal- 
bearing, or at any rate belong to the carboniferous 
group, as they lie conformably upon the thin bed from 
