18 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
which had not been met with by us before, viz. 
a new species of Salsola, different from the two 
known Indian ones; a new species of Tricho- 
desma , with perfoliate leaves, and the ammannia 
vesicatoria of Roxburgh. The bed of the second 
torrent was composed of rocks, and rocky frag¬ 
ments, consisting of calcareous sandstone, and an 
iron-stone breccia. The latter contained an im¬ 
mense quantity of embedded fossil shells, as far as 
we could ascertain, on a superficial examination, 
differing from the fresh-water shells, which we had 
collected in the neighbourhood of the river on 
our w^ay up. The stone in which these remains 
are found is very abundant, and we brought away 
a great quantity of specimens. On our way up 
to Ava, a native had given us a few specimens of 
fossil shells, which he said were obtained not far 
distant from the spot where we now found similar 
ones : this circumstance of course had directed our 
inquiry. All the specimens of rocks which we 
found here smelt strongly of petroleum, or earth 
oil; and as we proceeded up, we found the sub¬ 
stance itself oozing out from the blue clay. Were 
wells dug, no doubt it would be found in the 
same manner as at Renangyaong. The range of 
hills where we observed it is composed of immense 
masses of blue clay, soft sandstone, or rather ag¬ 
gregated sand, containing occasionally round peb¬ 
bles, hard calcareous sandstone, iron-stone breccia, 
in which alone the fossil remains were found, and 
