408 Mr. Crawford's Geological Observations, ^c. 



Pulo Panjang, nearly midway between the two shores. This group is com- 

 posed of sandstone, among- which we found occasional veins of common jasper. 

 Proceeding on our voyage to Cochin China, we touched at Pulo Condore. 

 This group seems entirely to consist of primitive rocks, chiefly granite and 

 felspar porphyry, both of singular hardness. On the continent of Cochin 

 China itself. Cape St. James, in latitude 10'' 10', is the commencement of a 

 continuous chain of primitive mountains, which stretches to the north until 

 it is interrupted by the alluvial plain of the great river of Tonquin in 20° 40' 

 north. To the west of it again, is the alluvial tract of the great river of Kam- 

 boja ; and not a mountain or even hill is to be seen here as far as the latitude 

 1 P. The hills of Cape St. James are about 300 feet high, and composed of 

 granite and porphyry remarkably tough. The first part of this great chain of 

 mountains (portions of which ascend to the height of 6000 feet), that we had 

 an opportunity of investigating, were the hills in the vicinity of the magnifi- 

 cent Bay of Turon. These in their foundation are granite. Our journey 

 over land from Hue, the capital, to Turon, which was fifty miles in length, 

 afforded us the best opportunity of examining the great northern range. 

 Some of the lowest parts of it, near the capital, in latitude about 17° north, 

 consisted of quartz, but the higher parts, of granite and its various varieties. 

 After my return to the Bay of Turon, I made an excursion to the city of Tyfo, 

 about 40 miles distant, and situated near the sea. On my route I met with a 

 remarkable range of marble rocks*, rising almost perpendicularly from the low 

 sand hills to a height of from 300 to 400 feet, without a hill or mountain within 

 20 miles of them. This marble is to a limited extent quarried for economical 

 purposes. 



* These rocks abound in splendid caves containing temples and images in honour of Buddha, 

 although his worship is not now the common religion of the Cochin Chinese. 



