GEOLOGY. 39 



river. They are generally seen at the turns of the river, and can be traced all the way down, 

 but are nowhere more extensive. Before the river cut its present deep bed, its course was 

 probably often interrupted, and small lakes formed, or, at least, its course was retarded, so as to 

 form these deposits. 



April 9th, 10th, and llth, Sarhada to Patir, halting at Patuchand Yiir. Three marches 

 of 4J, 15, and 12 miles. Black slates alone were seen till 9 miles beyond Patuch, thence 

 gneiss (fine-grained) and metamorphic rocks for the remainder of the way. The gneiss is 

 sandy, and disintegrates easily. 



April 12th and 13th, Patir to Panjah, or Kila Panj, halting at Zang ; 20 miles from the 

 former, only 3 from the latter. 



[No special description of the geology is given. The beds seen were probably all metamor- 

 phic, the same as before. A hot spring opposite Patir is said to rise in black metamorphic slates.] 



All the hills at Panjah consist of a metamorphic quartzose schist, which composes the 

 hills on the left bank of the valley. The rocks dip to south or south by east into the valley : 

 a few miles west they are overlain by dark hornblendic schist. 



[After a halt of 12 days in Panjah, the party marched back to Kashghar territory by the 

 Great Pamir, re-entering their former line of march at Kanshubar, east of Aktash.J 



April 26th and 27th, Panjah to Langerkish, 6 miles only. Visited the hot spring near 

 Zang : the water is 120. The rocks are quartz, hornblendic, and mica schist, with garnets, 

 dipping to the south-east. 



April 27th, Yumldiana, 16 miles. Old clay deposits reach to about 2,000 feet above the 

 present level of the river. The metamorphic schists are very variable, but highly micaceous 

 throughout (containing biotite) ; they still dip to the south-east, and include beds of white 

 marble. On the left bank of the river they seem to dip under the gneiss, which is not dis- 

 tinctly stratified. 



April 28th, Yolmazdr, 12 miles. Rocks same as before all fine-grained gneiss, with 

 biotite, very much resembling the Himalayan central gneiss, with biotite mica, traversed mostly 

 by thin veins of albite granite, with muscovite. It really seems that this is the continuation of 

 the central gneiss, in which the Spiti and Zaskar secondary rocks may form a bay, extending 

 from south-east towards north-west. About Dras the secondary rocks go over a saddle into 

 Kashmir, but the gneiss continues northward. Hornblendic beds often occur in the gneiss ; they 

 consist of dark, rather homogeneous rocks, which include hornblende and staurolite crystals. 



April 29th to May 1st, Yolmazdr to Lake Victoria (Wood's Lake) Three marches, alto- 

 gether about 37 miles. 



[Rocks throughout described as gneiss ; that on the first march described as containing a 

 little green mica or chlorite ; on the second but little rock was seen in place, the valley being 

 largely occupied by beds of pebbles and boulders, which form terraces along the sides, whilst the 

 hills were covered with snow. The gneiss seen was " remarkably altered, craggy, conglomeratic, 

 split in all directions, and as if it had been burnt," but no trace of an eruptive rock was seen.] 



The shingle boulders were mostly rounded ; some of very large size only slightly so, and 

 mixed with sand. The whole mass must have been accumulated more by the agency of snow 

 and ice than running water. 



[The hills around the lake are described as entirely of gneiss, and rather sharply pointed.] 

 The lake is about two miles in width, and surrounded by terraces of rounded worn boulders, mixed 

 with sand. These terraces rise to at least 100 feet above the lake, and show that the lake was 

 formerly much more extensive than it now is. [The details will be found in the diary.] 



