Glaciated Surface in the Himalayas. 405 



widened mainly by landslips. The glaciated surface shows that 

 by glacial times the Great Rangit Valley had been deepened near 

 Chakung to at least 3,600 feet above sea-level. The excavation of 

 a considerable proportion of tbe 2,500 feet below that level may be 

 post-glacial. That the V-shaped gorges, from 1,000 to 1,500 feet 

 deep, along the bottoms of the main valleys are young, is shown by 

 the sharpness of the faceted spurs and by the existence of high 

 waterfalls, such as that by which the stream on the northern bank 

 of the Great Rangit, a little east of Singla Bazar, leaps from 

 a hanging valley directly into the Rangit River. 



UttteKangitR. ohat Rangit R. 



FlG. 4. — North bank of the Great Eangit Valley, looking upstream towards 

 Singla Bazar to show the old high-level valley and sudden oversteepening 

 and truncation of the spurs. 



Conclusions. 



A. glaciated surface at Chakung, at the level of about 3,600 feet 

 above the sea, shows that the glaciers of Sikkim once extended 

 45 miles south of and descended 5,000 feet lower than the lowest 

 recorded ancient moraines. 



The lowest undoubted traces of glacial action on the Western 

 Himalaya appear to be in the Dalhousie district, where the late 

 General C. A. McMahon described moraines as low as 4,740 feet, 

 and glaciated rock surfaces at the level of 7,500 feet. 



The glaciated surface at Chakung shows that by glacial times 

 the valleys there had been excavated at least to 3,600 feet above sea- 

 level. A considerable proportion of the excavation of the steep 

 V-shaped gorges on the bottom of the older valleys is probably 

 post-glacial. 



References. 

 Annandale (N.). "Notes on the Fauna of Paresnath Hill : Western 



Bengal " : Eec. Ind. Museum, vii, pt. i, No. 3, pp. 33-49, 1912. 

 Blanfoed (W. T.). "Account of a visit to the Eastern and Northern 



Frontiers of Independent Sikkim," Part I : Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, 



xl, pp. 367-420, map, pi. xxiv, 1871. 

 Bose (Pramatha Nath). (1) " Extracts from the Journal of a trip to the 



Glaciers of the Kabru, Pandim, etc." : Bee. Geol. Surv. India, xxiv, 



pp. 46-68, 1891. 

 (2) "Notes on the Geology and Mineral Besources of Sikkim" : Rec. 



Geol. Surv. India, xxiv, pp. 217-30, map in vol. xxv, 1891. 

 Garwood (E. J.). In D. W. Freshfield, Round Kanchenjunga. Appendix A, 



pp. 275-99, 1903. 

 Hooker (J. D.). Himalayan Journals. 2 vols. Vol. i, pp. xxviii, 408 ; 



vol. ii, pp. xii, 487. 2 maps and 8 plates. 1854. 



