TO THE COURT OF AYA. 
315 
slate. Lying over it was limestone in different 
states of disintegration and decomposition. Far¬ 
ther up was found variegated marble, with dis¬ 
seminated black and green schorl. At the top 
of the hills, as I have already mentioned, the 
rock is a white and highly crystallized lime¬ 
stone. Proceeding westward, the range be¬ 
comes gradually lower, and here is found a 
fine grained blue limestone. This rock, in 
some situations, is in a state of complete disin¬ 
tegration, appearing like a mass of dry mud and 
clay, with fragments of the limestone dissemi¬ 
nated through it. Of the southern range, the 
higher portion is composed also of blue lime¬ 
stone ; but the lower, or northern portion, to¬ 
wards Sagaing, is generally a mass of sand, with 
a large intermixture of decomposed limestone 
rock. In general, this was very soft; but in a 
few situations it was indurated so as to compose 
a silicious limestone exactly resembling that 
which we had found at Lungyi, and other parts 
of the banks of the river farther down. In one 
place I found a detached fragment of mica slate, 
but could not discover the rock itself. It is pro¬ 
bable that the sandstone and lime rest upon it. 
—We found the road running through the valley 
a very good one, and frequented by wheel-car¬ 
riages : it leads to Mengwan and Moksobo, 
