GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF AREA AND ROCKS. 9 



derived from the decomposition, by the moist air, of the specks of ore in 

 the cupriferous slates. There is probably a warm spring here, the water 

 of which trickles away through the crevices of the rock and the loose 

 debris, without reaching the actual surface of the ground. The geo- 

 graphical co-ordinates are latitude 26° 58, longitude 88° 29' (= 88° 25^' 

 according to Admiralty value), elevation above the sea about 1,300 feet. 



The l mineral spring ' about three miles east of Darjiling is well 



known, and was formerly utilized for medicinal pur- 

 Chalybeate springs, 



poses, a convalescent depot having been built near 



it for the convenience of the troops stationed at Jallapahar. The water, 



however, is not used at present, and the depot has gone to ruin. It was 



also used by the hill-men for rheumatism and cutaneous diseases, the 



patient being placed in a rude bath made of plantain stems, the water 



in which had previously been heated by throwing hot stones into it ; it was 



also taken internally. The spring rises amongst the boulders in the bed 



of a lateral feeder of the Bangnu, which is dry above this point 



(4th May), and the water, issuing at 62° F., trickles away in a little 



rivulet, which deposits ochre in small quantity, but has no appreciable 



taste or smell. It is said to have formerly had a sulphureous odour, 



when used for medicinal purposes: latitude 27° 2J', longitude 88° 22' 



(= 88° 18 J' according to Admiralty value), elevation 2,050 feet. This 



is most probably No. 23 of Schlagintweit's list of hot springs,* the 



temperature of which is f unknown/ and geographical co-ordinates 



latitude 27° 3', longitude 88° 15', elevation about 1,900 feet. No 



hot spring is known in this vicinity. 



Ochre-depositing springs also issue from the black pyritous slates 

 associated with dolomite, east of Baxa, one of which at least has been 

 used for medicinal baths by the natives in the same way as that at 

 Darjiling. 



* Journal, Asiatic Society, Bengal, Vol. XXXIII, p. 49, 

 B ( 9 



