15 
part 1.] Blanford: Great Indian Desert between Sind and Rdjputana. 
Neighbourhood of Jesalmir .—Three or four miles north-west of Hanura, a higher 
scarp of buff-coloured limestone is reached; it rests upon sandstone, and this scarp 
extends to Jesalmir. Above the scarp the ground is rocky, and a second scarp of very 
similar limestone and sandstone exists at a short distance from the first. Some of’ the 
sandstone is very hard and vitreous. The beds have a low dip to the northward, and 
six or eight miles farther in that direction another scarp of rocks, higher in the series, 
is seen. 
Jesalmir is at the base of the lower scarp, the fort being built upon a detached outlier. 
The same scarp extends for some distance to the west, then turns south-west. It can be 
traced about six miles from the town, the beds throughout being the same buff compact 
sandstone, resting on whiter calcareous beds, and these again on grey sandstones with occasional 
ferruginous bands. Six miles from Jesalmir, near a stream-bed called Kakana, the rocks begin to 
roll about, but they are said to be traced some six miles farther, to a village called Mohar, before 
being covered up by the sand of the Thar. The surface of the limestone above the scarp 
is very distinctly striated by the action of sand driven by the wind, the striae running 
about north-35°-east. The limestone abounds in marine fossils of Jurassic age. 
The limestone is an admirable building stone, and is largely quarried. Jesalmir is 
built of it; and slabs are exported all over the country for temples, tombstones, &c., some 
having been taken even as far as Sind. It is used for fine carving, some of the pieces which 
have been taken to Sind having elaborate Arabic inscriptions cut upon them; it is of uni¬ 
form texture and very fine grain, and it resists the action of the weather well. 
The rocks south and south-east of Jesalmir are much better exposed than to the 
eastward, and are seen in descending sequence as far as Kita, a distance of about fifteen mlies, 
all having a low dip, usually less than 1°, and never exceeding 2°, to the north-west. From 
Kita to Vinjorai all the country is said to be covered with sandhills. At Vinjorai it is said 
that peaked hills occur; these may consist of the Malani porphyries. The beds seen 
between Jesalmir and Kita are doubtless identical with those between Jesalmir and Lathi: 
for the first ten miles they consist of a succession of limestone beds interstratified with sand¬ 
stones. Just south-west of the fort at Jesalmir there is a low scarp of impure brown 
limestone resting on soft grey sandstone. Below this again, south-by-east of the fort, and 
south of a large tank, some hard grey limestone is found, abounding in small shells ; it 
is quarried to a small extent for ornamental purposes. It contains fragments of huff 
limestone aud pale-yellow calcareous shale. Beneath these beds occurs a succession of brown 
limestones, brown and grey sandstones, often calcareous, ferruginous sandstones, dark- 
brown or blackish in colour, and conglomerate, containing pebbles of quartzite, red jasper, 
and ferruginous sandstone, the last precisely like that found in the beds beneath all the 
limestones. Other conglomerates contain fragments of gi-ey sandstone and ill preserved 
fossil wood, mixed with ferruginous nodules, in a yellowish calcareous matrix. 
The lowest band of limestone forms a well-marked scarp, which is seen extending for 
many miles to the south-west. Beneath it soft grey sandstones, with hard brown or black 
ferruginous beds, prevail, ail dipping slightly to the north-west. At Kita soft, white and 
variegated sandstones occur, the former in every respect resembling the beds of Lathi, 
and, like them, containing in abundance indistinct vegetable fragments. In places these 
line, white, rather micaceous beds are stained with lilac, purple and scarlet in irregular 
veins and blotches, and they then are much like some of the Balmir sandstones, except in 
being softer. It is not seen on what these rocks rest. To the south-east, in which direction 
lower beds might be found, all the country is covered with sand-hills. 
