PART ;3.] 
Thedhahl: The KunMim ■ leileft. 
!(>;3 
Mr. Ball observe!?:—“ Jt i.s time tliat there are no snborclinato rirlgos and 
spurs, but such is not uncommonlj^ found to be thes case, where valleys run with 
the strike between hard beds, bounding softer ones, which have been eroded to 
foi’m the valleys.” The picture here drawn is suggestive of some groat synclinal 
valley in Vindhyan sandstones, or in some similar group characterised by the 
parallelism and unbroken character of its bods, atid there arc doubtless many 
valleys which might have ‘ sat for the portrait,’ but the entire force of the argu¬ 
ment, as here used, depends on its applicability to the Naini basin. Of course, by 
introducing it in this connection, iMr. Ball implies that it is ajiplicable,—a view 
which I am wholly unable to coincide in. jMr Ball, however, having created the 
impression which the above sentence i.s calculated to convey, nowhere else lays 
special stress on the parallelism of the strata bounding the basin, but speaks of 
them as in places “much contorted and broken,” and of the limestones “near tbc 
depot” forming “ii'rcgnlar lenticular masses, not as beds.” Tlio fact is, the valley 
wherein Naini Tal nestles is surrounded by rocks, l arj ing greatly in structure, 
such as splintery scliists, and massive limestones, wbicli agree in one character 
only, that of being veiy disturbed, as regards tbeir sU'atigraphical arrangement, 
and muob cruslied and incclianically disintegrated as regJirds tbeir petrological 
condition. This last condition (certainly one not unfavmurablc to the production 
of spurs by denudation) causes the hill sides to he much marked by debris 
(landslips pci’liaps Mr. Ball would say), washed down ov'cr them, hut iu the 
shallow road cuttings along the ‘ Mall,’ the true arrangement of the strata may 
he seen, not as might bo inferred from Mr. Ball’s words, with a suz’face-plane 
and strike, coinciding with the axis of the valley, but revealing highly disturbed 
beds, with their ends truncated at various angles by the surface. Opinions may 
differ as to the value of the evidence in question, but the stratigraphical idea 
which Mr. Ball’s words convey is certainly not that most obviously indicated on 
tlie ground.^ 
Mr. Ball also alludes to “ the rigid trap axis ” of the hill, but this feature 
I consider no less suppositious than the implied parallelism of the beds bounding 
the lake. I was much surprised, after what I bad read of the lake, to see so 
little trap in its vicinity, but mucli of the rock iu the di.strict which might be so 
termed in a petrological sense, I should prefer to I’egard as an integral member of 
the schist group. Beds of this character may occur in the range in force, but to 
speak of them as “trap” without further comment, is, I think, likely to mislead, 
especially in helping to confuse their relationship with the eruptive trap, propei-ly 
so called, so largely developed about Bbim Tal and Malwa Tab IMr. Ball, moi'e- 
over, does not very clearly explain in what pi'ecise way the presence of cither 
bedded or eruptive traj) confers rigidity on tlie range in question, and iu default 
of a fuller exposition of iSIr. Ball’s views on the subject, I am unable to recognise 
a greater amount of “ rigidity ” in the hills about Naini Tal, tliau iu any other 
bills in this or any other district. Did the ranges environing Naini Tal consist 
' To most geologists Mr. Ball’s words would i roWMy suggest a valley of erosion on a brolieii 
autieliind flexure: a condition compatible wllli wlnit he claims] for the cas ■ and with the facts 
adduced agiiiiist it in the text,—H. B, M. 
