110 Correspondence. 



As the Teestah is shallow in the hills, and only prevented from run- 

 ning dry by constant rapids, which operate as natural flood-gates, or 

 locks, may not the excessive coldness of the water, together with the num- 

 bers of the rapids, be taken as indications that the snow is not far off? 



They say at Darjeeling that it would take two seasons to reach the 

 snows; on what satisfactory ground I do not know : as no person can 

 talk the Lepcha language, any information derived from the usual 

 interpreters must be meagre and unsatisfactory.* I have always been 

 impressed with the idea that the Teestah is eminently worthy the 

 attention of any scientific and intrepid traveller. No lime is found in the 

 detritus of this river ; large boulders of what Mr. Scott called quartz 

 are observed in the bed ; they were clearly traceable to the mountains 

 bordering on the river, because we found rocks of the same kind posses- 

 sing different degrees of induration, as they happened to have been 

 more or less exposed to the action of the air and the water. 



The stone did not present the usual crystalline appearance of quartz, 

 as shewn in cabinets ; but I read in Lyell that it is very difficult for 

 persons not scientific always to recognize quartz. 



The other two rivers enter the plains through considerable v allies, 

 without exposing the strata to observation for the same extent as 

 in the Teestah; they flow also through an entirely different class of 

 rocks, namely the Metamorphic, this is the character of the ranges all 

 the way to Darjeeling. The road from Punkabarry to Kurseeong 

 presents many opportunities for studying the structure of the mountain 

 ranges ; many of the most curious observations in Lyell, regarding the 

 bending of strata, here receive practical illustration. The stratification 

 in these gneiss rocks is generally in their laminae, so much so, that the 

 line of stratification, and the lines of cleavage, are in many places not 

 distinguishable by the inexperienced eye, while in other places they 

 are well marked, f 



The oxidation of the iron in the mica is very plain, but I observed 

 a circumstance which I do not remember to have observed in Lyell, 



* We should think the snow must be at no great distance from the place where 

 the excessive coldness of the water was observed ; but although the direct distance 

 may not be great, yet as travellers in such a country must be guided by passes, the 

 distance to be travelled before reaching perpetual snow may be considerable; but 

 the seasons must be very short at Darjeeling, or the inhabitants bad travellers, to re- 

 quire two seasons to reach perpetual snow, when it is always within sight. — 

 Ed. Cal. Jour. Nat. Hist. 



f It is doubtful perhaps whether gneiss is really stratified. The appearances 

 referred to by Mr. Smith are apt to deceive, and belong to the slaty, rather than a 

 stratified character — Ed. 



