1867.] the Western Himalaya and Afghan Mountains. 99 



does it now lie concealed under newer formations? There is no doubt 

 that great denudation has taken place repeatedly in the Himalaya and 

 subordinate hills ; yet basins nicely protected by eruptive or metamor- 

 phic rocks, bottoms of valleys or down-thrown beds might have escaped 

 removal. Not a trace of true coal has yet been found in the Himalayas, 

 the Punjab or the Afghan mountains, excepting (geologically speal - 

 ing) the few grains of coal which fill in the cellular tissue of the 

 lepidodendrondike plants described in para. 43, as having been found 

 in one of the layers of the Wean group. This is not very encourag- 

 ing ; but any person who has observed what a thick mantle the 

 Miocene sandstones and the old and new alluvia form over the older 

 formations, would not expect to find coal cropping out in a conspicuous 

 manner. If coal does exist, it will be one day discovered, no doubt ; 

 but the discovery will be made by patient and careful study, and not 

 by digging at random with a pickaxe wherever something black is 

 observed. It may be said with truth that the means hitherto employed, 

 by Government or persons interested in the search for coal, have been 

 such that not the smallest reasonable chance of success could be anti- 

 cipated.* But all this is foreign to our subject. 



91. The end of the Palaeozoic epoch or beginning of the Secondary 

 period was marked by new volcanic action, trifling indeed, if we 

 compare it to the intensity of volcanic power displayed during the 

 Silurian time, but yet highly interesting. I allude to these local out- 

 bursts of hot vapours, gases and waters, charged with several minerals, 

 which have taken place in many distant places of the Himalayas 

 and their dependencies. The action is geyserian rather than volcanic, 

 as no true volcanic rocks, that is, no lava, no scoria? and no ash appear 

 to have been discharged by these vents. The existence of this force 

 is mostly manifested by the metamorphism it has caused in some of 

 the upper beds of the Carboniferous limestone, and by the peculiar 

 way it twisted rocks, then soft, in a manner which appears now 

 incomprehensible, and totally abnormal to the surrounding layers. 

 In some localities, however, it seems that the waters, erupting through 

 the calcareous mud, were so rich in felspars, that this crystallised in 



* This remark applies only to the Punjab and the mountainous districts 

 studied in this paper. 



