'The Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society. From January 1863 to December 1864. (Edited by the Secretary.) Volume XVII.' [‎167] (338/524)

FROM BUSHIRE TO SHIRAUZ.
167
To Lieutenant Colonel Lewis Felly,
/
Acting Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. and Consul General Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
Bushire, §th October 18G3.
Sir, — I do myself the honour to forward fragments of rocks collected
during our late journey to Shirauz.
As I am unable to make even a rude sketch, I take the liberty of
attaching a geological sketch map by Mr. Loftus, which, with a few
remarks from myself, may lead to the identification of the specimens.
Entering Persia from the coast at Bushire there is first a plain some
thirty miles broad, and behind that mountain ranges of sandstone
and gypsum.
In the midst of the sandstone rises the hill of Geeseckoon. This is
an elongated saddle of limestone some three or four thousand feet
high, and having a quaquaversal dip ; its direction is NNW. The
upper two strata are fractured so as to form a cliff facing westward,
and from the base of this cliff half a dozen streams of w r ater run
through deep gorges down the face of the mountain. The strata are
one or two hundred feet thick. Two form the cliff, and the other four
specimens were got in the clefts formed by the streams. They are
marked, from above down Geeseckoon Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. In
the gorges different coloured limestones are deposited horizontally upon
the main rock. They are marked from above down Geeseckoon
Nos. 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11.
At the base of this mountain, on the West side and at the Southern
end, low ranges of sandstone, gypsum, and conglomerate overlie the lime
stone as it dips (Nos. 12 and 13). Here are two strata of gypsum and
an intermediate one of conglomerate, the whole about forty feet thick,
dipping west at an angle of 80 c , and impregnated with bitumen (Nos.
14 and 15): this is the coal of Geeseckoon. West of that is a low
range of limestone (No. 16) dipping west at an angle of 70°. Westward
still sandstone and gypsum, and west of all bounding the plain, a low
limestone range (No. 17) with a quaquaversal dip, and full of fossil
wood.
Prom Dalakhi to Kisht the rocks are of the gypsiferous series.
For the first half of the way they are not above five hundred feet high,
dipping East at an angle of 50°, and composed of sandstone, gypsum