PART 4.J 
Ball: Coal in the Luni Pathan Hills 
149 
These lower rocks continue with several rolls until they slope up to the J handrail range 
when a sharp anticlinal bend causes them to dip suddenly and disappear under the limestones 
of a marked range which hounds the Barkan valley, and of which an admirable Section is 
exposed in the Han pass. 
The eastern peak of Jhandran is about 1,200 feet above, the valley. Vegetation is some¬ 
what more abundant upon it than on the surrounding hills, and medicinal plants, which are 
reported to have special virtues, are found upon it. It was said that this hill had been the 
abode of a Fakir, some of whose domestic utensils had been turned into stone. Anticipating 
that some fossils of remarkable character might have given rise to the tradition, we ascended 
the hill, but our guides could not, or would not, shew us the cave in which these articles were 
said to occur. 
Close under this peak there is a spring which yields a perennial supply of water. The 
banks of the river passing through the Han gorge are for the most part formed of a calcareous 
tufa, in which twigs, leaves, and recent land-shells abundantly occur. This deposit is similar 
to the well-known Asarhar of India. It does not appear to be in any way connected with 
the above-mentioned spring, which, if any, deposits but a very slight amount of calcareous 
matter. 
The Barkan and a succession of valleys to the north-east present a fertile appearance, 
and there are several large and populous villages of the Khetrans situated in them. As their 
name implies, these people are cultivators ;* but owing to the constant liability to attacks, 
cultivation is for the most part confined to the immediate vicinity of the walls of the villages. 
These valleys run with the strike of the limestones. To the east the ranges, of which Mazara 
is the principal peak, can at once be recognised as being formed of the older rocks both from 
their dark appearance and the different form of weathering which they present when compared 
with that of the ranges formed of limestones. 
From this point our return to the Bungalow through the Rakni plain lay along the 
same route as on our outward march. 
The rocks seen in the above sections are referable to several distinct formations as 
follows :— 
1. Recent (a) Alluvium, hill detrital beds, sand, and calcareous tufa. 
/ 2. Pliocene P (b) Sandstones and conglomerates. 
Tertiary ) 3. Miocene ? (e) Sandstones and clays. 
Period. J f ((2) Nummulitic limestones. 
V ® 0CENE (e) Sandstones and shales.f 
Recent (a ).—Regarding the recent beds, in process of formation at present, but little of 
interest can he said. The alluvial area from year to year receives an increment from the 
inundation of the Indus and its tributaries. The drifting sand dunes constantly changing 
their positions creep along before the prevailing winds often, in their course, covering up and 
rendering useless cultivable land. The increase of the hill detrital and talus beds in this 
country of small rain-fall takes place hut slowly. The travertin and calcareous deposits are 
forming in several places. In the Han pass there is, as already mentioned, a considerable 
exposure of this rock, but the sources from which it was derived are no longer in action. 
Pliocene '! ( b ).—In the absence of any fossil remains, it would be premature to attempt to 
refer the fringing beds of sandstones and conglomerates, which, as I have above pointed out, 
* Derived from Khct , a field. 
t Possibly some of these when more fossil evidence is collected will have to be referred to the secondary period 
(cretaceous). 
