1866.] the Western Himalaya and Afghan Mountains. 107 
and half below the surface. Knowing nothing then of the magnetic 
iron sand, I could not conceive whence the slags came, but on seeing 
the large quantity of iron ore which is washed out of the sand by the 
gold-diggers, I was forced to conclude that a time had been when the 
iron powder was saved and smelted. [t is not such a poor under- 
taking as it might appear to wash iron from sand, especially as the gold 
alone would pay the men 3 or 4 annas a day, and a very little arrange- 
ment would save the iron. It contains about 70 per cent. of metal 
of the very finest quality and the very best to make steel. It resembles 
- Swedish iron, and it is the same as the Kangra iron which has been 
proved to be of excellent quality by experiments in England. It 
is very dear, selling at £14 aton. It is probable that the smelting 
of this iron sand was discontinued from the want of fuel, which is now 
very scarce on the plateau. That fuel was once more abundant, is 
sufficiently proved by the amount of travertin seen in many places where 
no springs exist now-a-days ; and these fossil springs, if I may call the 
travertin by that name, tell us of a time when a higher jungle on the 
plateau and forests on the hills arrested a good deal of moisture, and 
wrung from the humid monsoons a portion of the rains which are 
now poured on the Himalaya. It would be, I imagine, easy for the 
local government to find out whether the magnetic iron ore is still 
smelted in some localities in the district, or when the smelting was 
discontinued, and to resuscitate the trade, the iron ore being brought 
to Mukud from the neighbouring villages, and there smelted with 
charcoal brought down in boats from the Akora Kuttuck hills or 
from Hazara. Hxcellent limestone is abundant near the banks of the 
Indus ten or twelve miles above Mukud. It is also abundant in the 
conglomerate on which Mukud is built. 
The smelting of this iron sand would not, of course, give profits or 
yield a quantity of metal worth mentioning in comparison to the 
results of Huropean industry, but it might be a valuable enterprise for 
natives possessing some little capital, and might much ameliorate the 
miserable condition of the gold-washers. 
12.—Returning now to Buniar and the Kag Naj range, I must 
insist on the very changeable appearance of the porphyry. We have 
seen that it consists of a granular mass, with large crystals of albite, 
small crystals of quartz, crystals of garnet, plates of mica and lamellae 
