18 SECOND YARKAND MISSION. 



recent-looking sandstones and conglomerates, dipping at an angle of about 45 to north by 

 east, and at the foot of these beds rise the hot springs 1 of Kium. I think it probable that 

 this conglomerate has eastward a connection with the eocene deposits, which occur at the 

 western end of the Pankong lake 2 and in the Indus valley south of it. 



In the previous notes I have scarcely alluded to the dip of the rocks at the different 

 localities. The reason is, that there is, indeed, very great difficulty in directly observing both 

 the dip and the strike. At the western end of the Pankong lake the dip of the metamorphic 

 schists is mostly south- westerly, but further on nearly all the rocks dip at a moderate 

 angle to north-east, north by east, or to north. On the Lingzi-thung, just after crossing 

 the Chang-lung, the shales are mostly highly inclined, but further on the limestones lie 

 unconformably on them and dip to north-east. Wherever the hills consist merely of shales 

 and slates, their sides are generally so thickly covered with debris and detritus, that it 

 becomes almost an exception to observe a rock in situ. 



The debris is brought down in large quantities by the melting snow into the valleys, 

 and high banks of it are everywhere observable along the water-courses. At a somewhat 

 remote say diluvial period this state of things has operated on a far greater scale. Not 

 only were the lakes, like the Pankong, much more extensive, but valleys, like the Chang- 

 chenmo, or the Tankse valley, sometimes became temporarily blocked up by glaciers, or 

 great landslips, and the shingle and clay deposits were often accumulated in them to a 

 thickness of two or more hundred feet. Near Aktagh similar deposits of stratified clay exist 

 of about 160 feet in thickness, and extend over an area of more than 100 square miles. 3 

 There can be but little doubt that when these large sheets of water were in existence, the 

 climate of these now cold and arid regions was both milder and moister, and naturally more 

 favourable to animal and vegetable life than it is now. A proof of this is given, for instance, 

 by the occurrence of subfossil Succinete, Helices, and Pupce in the clay deposits of the 

 Pankong lake, while scarcely any land 1 mollusk could exist at the present time in the same 

 place. 



Note regarding the occurrence of jade in the Karakdsh, valley on the southern borders of 



Turkistan. 



[From Becords of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. VII, p. 51 ; and Quart. Jonr. Geol. Soo., 1873, XXX, p. 568.] 



The portion of the Kuenluen range which extends from Shah-i-dula eastward towards 

 Khotan appears to consist entirely of gneiss, syenitic gneiss, and metamorphic rocks, these 

 being quartzose, micaceous, or hornblendic schists. On the southern declivity of this range, 

 which runs along the right bank of the Karakash river, are situated the old jade mines, or 

 rather quarries, formerly worked by the Chinese. They are about 7 miles distant from 

 the Kirghiz encampment Balakchi, which itself is about 12 miles south-east of Shah-i- 

 dula. I had the pleasure of visiting the mines in company with Dr. Bellew and Captain 

 Biddulph, with a Yarkandi official as ourguide. 



1 The temperature of these hot springs varies from 60 to 125. They form no deposit of gypsum, like the springs north of 

 Gogra, but there is a good deal of soda deposit round them. (S). 



- I can find no mention of any eocene deposits at the western end of the Pankong lake in the diary. Some deposits are noticed 

 which contain fresh-water shales, but are evidently much more recent. Some recent-looking yellow conglomerate or coarse sandstone 

 is mentioned in the Rimdi valley, north of the Pankong lake. There may be some mistake in the wording of the text here, due to 

 its having been printed in Dr. Stoliczka's absence. 



3 For a description of the alluvial deposits of Ladak and tlie Upper Indus basin, see Drew, Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc., 1878, XXIX, 

 p. 441. 



