Mr. CoLEBRooKE OH the Valleij of the Sutluj River. 125 



The lower valley of the Sutluj, from the spot where it bursts from the 

 Himalaya, until it reaches the flat country, is easily accessible to examination 

 and research. 



The middle valley, comprising Khanawer, had been visited by Capt. Hodg- 

 son in June 1816. It has been explored by Lieut. A. Gerard^ assisted by his 

 brother, in the progress of a geographical survey on which they were employed 

 in the autumn of 1818. The narrative of their route has been communi- 

 cated to the Asiatic Society, and will be inserted in the fourteenth volume of 

 that Society's Researches. Their geological observations and collections, 

 purposely made for me, at the instance of Dr.Wallich, a member of this Society_, 

 have been obligingly communicated; and enable me to lay before this meet- 

 ing the geological specimens collected by them, with satisfactory information as 

 to their local position, whence conclusions may with confidence be drawn re- 

 garding the general structure of the country. 



Too much praise cannot be given to the indefatigable exertions of those 

 gentlemen ; who, while engaged iu a laborious survey and arduous journey, 

 had zeal and perseverance to devote unceasing attention to geological inquiry, 

 under circumstances most discouraging. 



They laboured under the disadvantage, as Lieut. Gerard modestly expresses 

 himself, of being unacquainted with mineralogy : yet an ample collection of 

 specimens was every day made. The greater part of these was however lost ; 

 and not a few mixt and confounded by the carelessness of servants ; notwith- 

 standing the precaution of originally putting the specimens in separate covers, 

 with the names of the places where they were collected distinctly specified. 



At the three highest peaks visited by them, 16,921, 18,493, and 19,411 feet 

 above the level of the sea, they picked up a number of different stones : but as 

 the ascent was upwards of 7000 feet in each instance, and extremely fatiguing, 

 not to mention excessive debility and severe head-ache experienced at those 

 great elevations, it is not surprising that the attendants to whom the specimens 

 were handed, often threw them away as fast as they were collected : and 

 neither threats nor entreaties could prevail with the people to carry more than 

 a very few. 



The three days employed in visiting those high peaks, as Lieut. Gerard ob- 

 serves in a letter to Dr. Wallich, were truly disastrous. Thermometers, barome- 

 ters, perambulators, and theodolites were broken in pieces. The temperature 

 was 22° below the freezing point of Fahrenheit at half-past four p.m., and they 

 had near 8000 feet to descend, over the most frightful road, to reach their camp. 

 The people threw away every specimen collected : the surveyors were them- 

 selves burdened with their instruments and journals, which they would not trust 



