DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5541#0441
408
DELHIJI SU.
[Chap, xxiii.
them. Our course was nearly west, and, as we descended
the valley, we soon came upon the red sandstone formation,
which showed itself also in the hills to the right and left,
while in front a remarkable bluff ridge of red sandstone rock
formed the western limit of the plain. Five miles below
Soungourli the valley widened into an extensive and fertile
plain, in the middle of which was the small village of Besh-
bounar. A mile farther we passed the village of Ahabounar
half a mile off to the left, and presently a ruined building
in the plain, consisting of two low arches, apparently very
old, but Turkish; after which our course changed to
W.S.W.
A few minutes before ten we commenced the ascent of
the red sandstone ridge, here dipping E. 50°; and on reach-
ing the summit crossed a barren undulating country, rising
into considerable hills on either side, in which the strati-
fication of the harder beds of red or grey sandstone was
conspicuously marked by narrow ridges of rock, projecting
above the surface. The eastern dip of these beds gradually
increased in intensity until it became almost, if not quite,
vertical, with a strike from north to south.
At half-past ten the valley by which we were descending
opened into a circular basin, where it occurred to me that
a formation of rock-salt probably existed beneath the sur-
face, similar to what I had seen near Sarek Hamisch;
this supposition was strongly corroborated by finding
the almost dry bed of the stream, as well as the surface of
the plain wherever water had rested, covered with a saline
incrustation. At eleven we crossed this stream near the
spot where it enters the plain of the Delhiji Su, the banks
of which we reached after traversing the plain in a W.S.W.
direction. It contained very little water, and its sources
are still unknown; but at the ferry, which we reached soon
after eleven, the water was very brackish, owing to its pass-
ing through salt-beds.
After crossing a low ridge of hills of marly formation, con-
taining much selenite, we descended to a dry valley, in
DELHIJI SU.
[Chap, xxiii.
them. Our course was nearly west, and, as we descended
the valley, we soon came upon the red sandstone formation,
which showed itself also in the hills to the right and left,
while in front a remarkable bluff ridge of red sandstone rock
formed the western limit of the plain. Five miles below
Soungourli the valley widened into an extensive and fertile
plain, in the middle of which was the small village of Besh-
bounar. A mile farther we passed the village of Ahabounar
half a mile off to the left, and presently a ruined building
in the plain, consisting of two low arches, apparently very
old, but Turkish; after which our course changed to
W.S.W.
A few minutes before ten we commenced the ascent of
the red sandstone ridge, here dipping E. 50°; and on reach-
ing the summit crossed a barren undulating country, rising
into considerable hills on either side, in which the strati-
fication of the harder beds of red or grey sandstone was
conspicuously marked by narrow ridges of rock, projecting
above the surface. The eastern dip of these beds gradually
increased in intensity until it became almost, if not quite,
vertical, with a strike from north to south.
At half-past ten the valley by which we were descending
opened into a circular basin, where it occurred to me that
a formation of rock-salt probably existed beneath the sur-
face, similar to what I had seen near Sarek Hamisch;
this supposition was strongly corroborated by finding
the almost dry bed of the stream, as well as the surface of
the plain wherever water had rested, covered with a saline
incrustation. At eleven we crossed this stream near the
spot where it enters the plain of the Delhiji Su, the banks
of which we reached after traversing the plain in a W.S.W.
direction. It contained very little water, and its sources
are still unknown; but at the ferry, which we reached soon
after eleven, the water was very brackish, owing to its pass-
ing through salt-beds.
After crossing a low ridge of hills of marly formation, con-
taining much selenite, we descended to a dry valley, in