460 Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. [June, 



is perfectly unconnected and unbroken, running in irregular 

 ridges, undivided by any valley of consequence from the one 

 plain to the other. These mountains on the side of Hindostan 

 rise from a level at once into sharp and precipitous cliffs, while 

 the north-western side, according to the best accounts that have 

 been obtained, falls more gradually into green hills, and ends in 

 a gently sloping plain. 



The great Himala mountains form the centre of this ridge, and 

 rear their sharp crests covered by eternal snow, to an almost 

 incredible height, in unapproachable desolate grandeur. Mr. 

 Colebrooke, in the twelfth volume of the Asiatic Researches, 

 estimates the height of the different peaks at 26,862 feet to 

 22,000 feet. Jumnatra, the source of the Jumna, is estimated at 

 25,500 feet above the level of the sea. During the tour in which 

 the specimens laid before the Society were collected, the route 

 lay over a shoulder of this mountain within (it was conjectured) 

 2,000 feet of its summit. The specimens were collected between 

 the rivers Bhagirutta andSutlej. The general line of the moun- 

 tains is here nearly N. W. and S. E. A small abrupt ridge 

 rising from 500 to 750 feet in height, and extending from three 

 to six miles in breadth, runs next to the plains from Hurdwar, 

 half way to the Sutlej . This consists of sandstone, indurated 

 clay, and beds of rounded pebbles and gravel. The next range 

 of hills runs from 1,500 to 5,000 feet in height, with sharp narrow 

 crests, and consists of a very decomposable greyish brown indu- 

 rated clay, containing siliceous matter. Just beyond this range 

 rises a mountain of limestone about 7,000 feet high : a large 

 perennial stream marked the division between this range and a 

 mass of mountains consisting almost entirely of varieties of 

 schist, with much mica, and veined with quartz. Connected 

 with these, were observed a coarse sandstone, and a conglome- 

 rate of sand, mica, and gravel, cemented by a white spar easily 

 frangible. As the snowy mountains were approached, rocks of 

 white quartz were observed, and of a hard semi-transparent 

 stone of many colours, grey, red, yellow, and greenish. On 

 reaching the heart of the Snowy Mountains, the distant peaks 

 appeared to be stratified, and to dip to the N. E. at an angle of 

 about 45 degrees. For several thousand feet below their tops, all 

 vegetation ceases, and no living thing is to be seen . The returning 

 route was for a considerable way along the bed of the river 

 Pabur, which rises among the depths of the Himala : in this 

 bed, blocks of a peculiar kind of rock were found. The neigh- 

 bouring rocks were schist and limestone. Another opportunity 

 presented itself of viewing the summits of the Himala from Jum- 

 natree, which rises in two grand peaks, covered on the S. and 

 S. E. by perpetual snow, but showing a precipitous rocky face 

 towards the N. W. The river Jumna was here traced to its 

 source in a number of small rills flowing from the snow, and 

 collected in a pool at the bottom of a steep slope. Nearly every 



