﻿1851.] 



STRACHEY — GEOLOGY OF THE HIMALAYA. 



299 



dence of the truth of my inference. Proceeding far to the west, to 

 Cashmere, we again find that the exterior line of mountains, that 

 rises immediately over the sandstones, is constituted of the same 

 rocks, although the elevation they attain is there so great (viz. 13,000 

 or 14,000 feet) as to bring them almost within the range of per- 

 petual snow. An amygdaloidal greenstone, of which I myself hap- 

 pen to have seen specimens, is found on the summit of these moun- 

 tains at the Dras pass, and the schists with which it is seen are 

 described by Jacquemont as being identical with those of the exterior 

 range between the Ganges and Jumna, which again are, as I have 

 already observed, altogether similar to those of the more eastern parts 

 of the line. 



Following the line of my section, we next enter a tract of con- 

 siderable breadth, the main rock of which is a miea-schist of a not 

 very crystalline order, and which generally disintegrates readily. Its 

 dip is throughout to N.N.E. at a moderate angle. Along the central 

 part of this region runs a line of granite, that extends with hardly 

 any interruption from the Kali to the Ganges (see Map), near which 

 river it seems to end in a large outburst in a mass of mountain, the 

 elevation of which reaches 10,300 feet. The ordinary summits along 

 the line are not however more than 7000 feet in altitude. This gra- 

 nite nowhere appears to produce any particular disturbance of the 

 strata on a large scale ; the dip remaining at much the same angle, 

 and constantly to the N.N.E., on both sides of the granite. The 

 granite is often porphyritic, and it maintains this character, as well 

 as that of being much subject to decay, throughout its whole extent. 

 In one place I have seen veins in its vicinity penetrating the mica- 

 schist, and accompanied by considerable contortions of the strata. 

 The vein-granite is much more coarsely grained and more felspathic 

 than that of the great outburst. Near the edges of the granite, frag- 

 ments of mica-schist showing a distinctly laminated structure are 

 not uncommonly found imbedded in it. At one place, at its edge, was 

 also seen an outburst of syenitic greenstone, in the form of a dyke, 

 the exterior of which was amorphous and earthy, while the central 

 portion was highly crystalline, of a very black colour, and assumed 

 the spheroidal structure. 



The imperfect nature of our information does not enable me to 

 trace this line of granite with certainty to the west of the Ganges, 

 but it is highly probable that the granite of the Chor mountain, the 

 summit of which reaches a height of 12,000 feet, maybe a continua- 

 tion of this same outburst. 



Throughout these schists garnets are very frequently found of 

 every size, from an inch in diameter and downwards. Veins of schorl, 

 with small quantities of felspar, are also common. Limestone is very 

 rare in this tract, and I only know of one small bed, which is very 

 crystalline. Graphite occurs in the mica-schist in the vicinity of 

 Almora, the chief town of our hill-districts, both in an impure form 

 disseminated in the schist, and in small nodules apparently quite 

 pure. A very remarkable band of rock, apparently interstratified 

 with the mica-schists, and of such a nature that it is not easy to de- 



