PART 4.] 
Ball: Coal in the Luni Pathan Hills. 
147 
Leaving Dera Gbazi Khan, which, though within the normal area subject to inundation 
from the Indus, is protected from injury by considerable dams, the road westward to Vuddore 
passes over for the most part cultivable land, broken here and there by tracts covered with 
drifting sand-dunes. Between Vuddore and Saki-Sarwa the soil becomes more arid and 
sandy, and cultivation is more restricted to what may always be called oases. The wild 
vegetation, consisting of species of Tamarix, Zizyphve, Calatropis and Euphorbia, indicat¬ 
ing the character of the soil. At Saki-Sarwa,* * * § which is said to be 926 feet above the sea, 
the surface is covered with a wide-spreading talus of boulders. 
At the foot of the hills, close by, is a narrow margin of horizontal beds of sandstones 
and conglomerates, inside which again rise an older series of ranges formed of beds with a 
steep incline outwards, the dip being in places from 60° to 70°. Nothing can be conceived of 
as being more desolate than the aspect presented by these ridges, scarcely a sign of vegeta¬ 
tion breaks the uniform brownness of the arid rocks. Entering the hills by the Siri pass.f 
four miles to the south of Saki-Sarwa, we find that the marginal zone above spoken of, has 
spread to a breadth of about four miles; the nearly horizontal beds of which it is composed 
completely covering up the highly inclined beds which appear near Saki-Sarwa. In the section 
exposed in the cliffs bounding this pass, a thickness of about 600 feet of beds of sandstone and 
conglomerate is seen. In places these dip to the south-east or east-south-east at an angle of 10°; 
and the disappearance of a bed of conglomerate at this angle accounts for the sudden and 
total extinction of a steady current of water which comes from the interior. Judging from 
the map, this seems to be the fate of most of the rivers along this frontier, few of them 
finding their way to the plains, although the continuation of the nalahs or dried-up water¬ 
courses indicates that they have done so formerly, or even may do so now under the excep¬ 
tional circumstance of a heavy and long continued rainfall.* 
The gorge of the Siri pass is about four miles long. At its western entrance the 
horizontal beds are well seen resting on the highly inclined older rocks. Here a valley opens 
to view, in which, as far as the eye can reach to the north and south, numerous ridges, formed 
of green and red shales or clays and brownish sandstones, and further in, white limestones, 
crowd the space. All the beds dip outwards from the main axis of the Suliman at consider¬ 
able angles, none under 30°, and in places exceeding 70°. In the neighbourhood of Kadji,§ 
highly fossiliferous white nummulitic limestones of inconsiderable thickness, alternating 
with argillaceous beds, first make their appearance. 
The open parts of this valley, though stony, support a certain amount of vegetation 
which is dwarfed and stunted in growth, but produces an agreeable appearance after the 
dreary waste outside. 
Underneath the limestones occur some alum shales, and a succession of shales and 
sandstones. The ascent to the main axis of the Suliman range traverses the up-turned edges 
of these beds. 
* The tomb of Saki-Sarwa is a place of much resort both by Mahomedans and Hindus. A mela, which is held 
in the cold weather, attracts many thousands of pilgrims every year. 
t An old kalila route to Kandahar. 
t An instance of the latter case, indeed, has come to notice during the past few weeks since my visit; the 
floods which have caused the Indus to break into the old bed of the Sutlej and inundate the station of Omerkote 
having been principally due to the access of immense bodies of water from the lateral tributaries which drain the 
Suliman range. The rainfall in Biluchistan has been quite exceptional in tills monsoon, and the loss of cattle and 
the injury to houses has in consequence been considerable. 
§ In this vicinity I found it quite impossible to fix my position, the courses of the rivers and low ranges repre¬ 
sented on the Atlas-sheet maps pursuing purely imaginary directions. 
