'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎42] (57/496)

xlii
of the aerolite, to Mr Goldfinch, the assistant collector and magistrate in charge
of the district, who has kindly placed them at my disposal.
“ Had the evidence in proof of the fall of this stone been less conclusive than
it is we might still have inferred the fact of its being an aerolite from its peculiar
appearance, so different from that of any rock in the neighbourhood of the spot
where it was found. For miles around the village of Negloor, the only rocks to
be found are primary clay slate of various degrees of induration, and occasional
dykes, masses and boulders of greenstone, but not a trace of any volcanic product,
or other stone bearing the remotest resemblance to the one under consideration.
The latter, moreover, tallies exactly with the descriptions given of aerolites. It is
coated with the fused crust or film characteristic of these bodies, and is evidently
highly metallic. On the theory of serolites being planetary bodies which become
fused on their surfaces, and burst by the sudden evolution of heat occasioned by
their rushing at immense velocities into our atmosphere, the specimen now for
warded may be supposed to have formed part of a globe, or rather mass appioach-
ing the spherical shape, of somewhat more than a foot in diameter, which burst
into fragments under these circumstances ; and the difference in appearance of the
position of the fused film over the rounded part of the specimen, which may be
considered to be a portion of the surface of the original globe, and of that coating
the remaining parts, which according to this view were the rough broken surfaces
of the detached fragment, would seem to favor this explanation.
“ These remarks, however, are merely thrown out in the way of conjecture,
as I do not pretent to any knowledge that would entitle me to theorize on the sub
ject at all. My object in writing at so much length has been to shew that the
specimen now sent is part of a true eerolite, and as such, I hope it will be thought
worthy of a place in the new Museum.”
ness, shewing that springs (they being spring deposits,) were formerly more abundant than they
now are. They, as well as the limestone, are extensively used for building jmrposes, and for
making lime.
Springs. — Springs, like all the other springs in the Punjaub and Affghanistan, * which
issue from limestone districts, belong to that division which is hot in winter and cold in summer,
the temperature of the air in the morning being twenty degrees lower than that of the water.
Similar springs are met with among the Himalayas, in the Bijouni valley, between Saeeki Huttee
and Belaspore, Cohat, Hussun Abdul, &c. The depth of the one at Rotas is said to be unknown.
Regarding it there is a tradition which I was told by a native, viz., that a man who had been
engaged making a rope for twelve years attempted with it to fathom it, but could not find any
bottom. Opposite the sprmg a s/icemicma/i is erected, and beneath it a charpoi, covered with a
white sheet ;here a Grunth, (the sacred book of the Sikhs,) is placed, and before it sits a man
night and day with a punka in his hand, to drive away flies, repeating passages from the sacred
volume.
From Rotas on to Maree on the Indus, the w'hole country consists of extensive plains sur
rounded by mountains, in general barren in the extreme. It is in these that the best horses ol
the Punjaub are bred, but that does not infer much, as a very good country-bred horse is sel
dom seen.
The higher and mountainous parts of the country are composed of limestone and red marl,
and the plains, when an outcrop is seen, of sandstone and conglomerate, the former being some
times of a green color, and but little inclined. At Kullur Kahar, the conglomerate is unconfor-
mable to the other rocks, and its character differs from that rock at Jelalpore, in the limestone
containing no organic remains. Proceeding onwards W. N. W., w r e cross many mountain
streams or nullas, all of them in general receiving the name of Soane, owing to the sand on their
banks containing gold, for which it is extensively washed during every month of the year, that
of December, January, and February excepted. The gold obtained is similar to that found on
the banks of the Indus. From Muzan to Maree the country is still open, till within three cos.
of the latter, when the mountains contract, forming a narrow defile, the saliferous rocks on
either side rising to a height of two and three hundred feet. As we approach near the banks o
the river, the country is covered with boulders of trap, granite, syenite, hornstone, porphyry, ft 0,
* See Reports by Lord, Burnes, Griffith, &c.