1832.] On the Gypsum of the Himalaya. 291 



imity of which becomes apparent from the masses and broken pieces 

 in the bed of the stream. A considerable slip in the mountain, of a 

 very recent date, displays the position of the rock, which would 

 doubtless otherwise have remained concealed, as no vestige whatever 

 can be found on the unbroken surface of the mountain. To give 

 therefore an explicit account of its actual dimensions, or even to 

 describe the locality, is perfectly impossible, further than what is exhi- 

 bited to the eye : from the confusion attending- on these fractures, 

 and the precipitous and irregular structure of the mountain, covered with 

 vegetation and an impervious wood. The gypsum is apparent here 

 in two beds or strata, separated by a reddish argillaceous schist, and 

 reposing upon a blueish limestone, in contact with which there are 

 evident signs of passing one into the other. Independent of these beds 

 or strata, unconnected and insulated masses of gypsum appear through- 

 out the schist, the whole lying horizontal without any appa- 

 rent dip or inclination. Beneath the blueish limestone, on which 

 the lowest stratum rests, are varieties of a lime rock, of a darker 

 color, reticulated with veins of calcareous spar, large rhomboidal crystals 

 of the latter being found of considerable size, and in a much greater 

 proportion than in the neighbouring mountains : indeed, the debris 

 formed by the slipping of this face of mountain is altogether composed 

 of these varieties of limestone, fragments of calcareous spar, and the 

 pieces of broken gypsum and schist. The quality of this gypsum 

 varies as much as its color ; the former from a compact crystalline 

 mass, to a loose, powdery, and arenaceous soil, hardly to be termed 

 rock ; the latter from a pure white, slightly translucent at the edges, 

 to a dirty grey, particularly in its passage into the limestone. The 

 colors however are exceedingly various : a brilliant yellow variety was 

 discovered in great abundance. The height of this deposit from the bed 

 of the stream is about 1000 or 1200 feet. The mountain series de- 

 cidedly calcareous. 



Gypsum at SalkoVh. 

 The former gypsum I have explained as alternating to all appear- 

 ance with argillaceous schist, and forming a series with rocks, the 

 antiquity of which may be a matter of remark hereafter. This gyp- 

 sum is apparently superficial, and entering into the series more as an 

 independent formation, than as a feature expressive of the general 

 structure of the mountain. It shows itself opposite that village, about 

 four miles north of Sansadhara, jutting from the face of the mountain 

 in a bold and irregular outline, to the height of about 200 feet from 



