128 ]\Jr. CoLEBRooKE on the Vallcif of the Suthij River. 



advanced to Marangv, a large town upon the left bank of the Sutluj, at an 

 elevation of 8500 feet above the sea. 



The Bcspa river^ a tributary of the Sutluj^ falls into it ten miles north of 

 the Bruaug- pass. At the station of Puari, near the confluence of those rivers, 

 the mean height of the bed of the Sutluj is 6300 feet above the level of the 

 sea. The stream flows over rounded pebbles of granite, with sand. The 

 rocksj which constitute the banks, are inclined to the horizon at an angle of 

 twenty-five or thirty degrees, and dip to the eastward. From specimens col- 

 lected there, they appear to consist of granite, gneiss, quartz compact and 

 granular, and quartz with mica. 



The vaUey of the Baspa river has been recently visited, that is, in Octo- 

 ber 1819, by Lieut. Herbert, the companion of Captain Hodgson in his arduous 

 survey of the Ganges to near its source above Gangawatri. He crossed the 

 ridge of the Himalaya by a pass which is situated between the cataracts at the 

 head of the Rupin river and the sources of the Baspa. The elevation of the 

 pass was ascertained by him, according to Archdeacon Wollaston's method, 

 and determined at something more than 15,000 feet. Snow lay on its accli- 

 vity, and no vegetation was observed ; unless the discoloration of the rock 

 implies the presence of lichens. Mr. Herbert remarks, that nothing was 

 visible but bare black rock crowned with snow. 



Between Puari and Rispe, from 6500 to 9800 feet above the sea, the 

 rocks, most part of the way, are formed of a whitish crumbling granite. The 

 Cailas or Raldang mountains on the south, an assemblage of pointed peaks 

 covered with snow, and more than 20,000 feet above the sea, appear to be 

 composed of the same kind of rock ; viz. whitish granite. The specimens 

 coflected in this portion of the route exhibit granite and gneiss. 



In the bed of the Tidong rivulet, two miles east of Rispe, are found quartz 

 rock, and granite containing tourmalin. The bed of the rivulet is 7,600 feet 

 above the sea. The rocks near this consist of mica-slate, with tortuous veins 

 of white granite, of various breadth, running in every direction. 



Overhanging the town of Marang is a mountain of clay -slate. Upon it, at 

 an elevation of 12,000 feet, heath, juniper, and gooseberry bushes were 

 growing. 



The travellers, proceeding to the Tungrang pass, observed the rocks on the 

 way, chiefly formed of compact quartz with chlorite. The pass itself, which is 

 13,740 feet above the sea, and is connected on the south with a group of 

 snowy i)eaks about 20,000 feet in height, exhibited clay-slate with pyrites and 

 with mica. 



A greater variety of specimens was collected a few miles further, between 



