1 Hind. Koosh, 33;
2 Lord, Koh-1I-
3 Damun, 48;
4 Elph. Ace. of
5 Caubul, 90;
6 Wood, Oxus, 104.
7 1 ELC. Ms. Doc.;
8 Elph. Acc. of
9 Caubul, 103.
10 2 oe ve
11 seus As. Soc.
12 Beng. 1843, p.
13 195, on the Geol.
14 and Zoolory of
15 the Punjab.
16 3 Jameson, 105.
17 4 Id. 190; Jace
18 quemont, 114.
19 166 SALT RANGE.
20 in Afghanistan, lies across the Hindoo Koos mountain. The
21 route by this pass proceeds northward up a gorge, which, at its
22 southern extremity, opens into the Ghorbund valley, near the
23 eastern entrance. The pass is practicable for horses during the
24 summer months, but Wood found it impassable, from snow and
25 excessive cold, as early as the beginning of November,-and his
26 Hindoo followers narrowly escaped perishing. The hamlet of Sir
27 Ulung gives name to the pass, which is situate in lat. 35° 37’,
28 long. 68° 55’.
29 SALT RANGE,|— An extensive group of mountains stretching
30 generally, in lat. 32° 30’—33° 80’, in a direction from west to
31 east, from the eastern base of the Suliman mountains, in Afghan-
32 istan, to the river Jailum, in the Punjab. This range is, in
33 different parts, known to the natives under various denomina-
34 tions, but is by Europeans comprehended under the general term
35 Salt Range, in consequence of the great extent and thickness of
36 the beds of common salt which it in many places contains. Though
37 the southern part of this group terminates rather abruptly at the
38 west bank of the Jailum,? the more northern part is, according
39 to Jameson,? connected with the recent formation constituting the
40 lowest and most southern range of the Himalaya, and runs “on
41 by Bimber, Jummoo, Nurpoor, and down by the south of Belas-
42 poor, crossing the Jumna at Fyzabad, and the Ganges at Hurd-
43 war.”3 The general direction of the range is from north-west to
44 south-east.
45 This extensive range, of recent formation, may consequently be
46 considered to contain not only the saliferous deposits of Kala-
47 Bagh and Pind Dadun Khan, but also those of Mundi, in the north-
48 east of the Punjab. Its geological conformation has been examined
49 on the west bank of the-Jailum, at Pind Dadun Khan and Jelalpoor,
50 and there found to comprise the following rocks :‘—Ist, limestone
51 compact, varying in colour from grey to black, and devoid of or-
52 ganic remains ; 2nd, sandstone ; 3rd, sandstone conglomerate ; 4th,
53 red, yellow, and greenish clay ; 5th, sulphate of lime or gypsum ;
54 6th, conglomerate. All the strata are highly inclined (the angles
55 varying from 30° to 60°), and they have no uniform direction. The
56 conglomerate consists of a calcareous or silicious cement, contain-
57 ing boulders of granite, syenite, trap, quartz, and limestone, which
58 Jast abounds in organic remains. The salt pervades all these
59 formations, but is principally enveloped in clay, and occurs in
60 enormous masses, one of those now worked being two hundred