280 A NATURALIST IN HIMALAYA 



has invaded the Himalayan axis, are the mountains 

 built on so large a scale. To the south the country 

 is less broken. The mountains have diminished into 

 rugged hills ; the snows are replaced by dark 

 coniferous forests and the silent glaciers by torrents 

 and cascades. 



To best view the structure of this district we strike 

 a course directly across it. If we start from the north- 

 west and travel in a south-easterly direction over the 

 mountains, the upheaved edges of the strata rise in a 

 succession of rocky zones before us. At first we stand 

 upon the crystalline core of the mountains. This is 

 the central mass of gneissose granite which some time 

 in the Eocene period was forced upward in a molten 

 state and, intruding itself within the overlying sedi- 

 ments, raised up the Himalaya. It is chiefly a biotite 

 granite sparkling with little flakes of black mica, but in 

 some places we find dark masses of hornblende or 

 beautiful crystals of tourmaline. The Himalayan 

 granite covers a wide area. It extends into the centre 

 of all the main ranges throughout the whole length of 

 the Himalaya and upwards into its loftiest peaks. To 

 the north of this district we may trace it to the moun- 

 tain passes that lead across the frontier. From the 

 passes we may see the granite rising into the distant 

 peaks and sinking into the deep ravines. We see 

 glaciers furrowing its sides and its broken ridges 

 clothed in snow and ice. It is an amazing spectacle ; 

 this igneous outburst, divested of all its covering of 

 sediments, torn and shattered by the hand of time and 

 raised into thousands of nameless mountains, range 

 upon range, as far as the human eye can reach. The 

 rnind cannot for a moment grasp the force of that 



