112 Mr. Verchére on the Geology of Kashmir, [No. 2, 
from a letter to me, is describing, I think, volcanic rocks, especially 
agglomerates and ash full of lapilli and volcanic conglomerates. “‘ It 
(the lacustrine deposit of the valley of Kashmir) rests unconformably 
on trapean rocks, quartzite, quartz conglomerate, very hard and 
forming a compact mass.”’ And again, further to the S. W. on the road. 
through the Pir Punjal Pass, he says: ‘The rocks are principally 
mica-slate, with thick beds of a hard conglomerate having a very fine 
dark blue matrix ; this, in some places, was a mass of water-worn 
pebbles ; but im most of at these are scattered through the mass, and are 
often in that case angular and small. Uptothe Pir Punjal Pass the dip is 
N. with a high angle ; having crossed the ridge N. HE. this contmues 
all the way to Barangulla, giving these altered sandstones, slates and 
conglomerates an enormous thickness.’’* The excellent observer who 
wrote the above remarks did not think, it appears, that the rocks 
were mostly volcanic in origin, but I cannot help imagining that 
his description applies, in great part, to stratified ejecta of volcanic 
eruptions, and the passage I have put in Italics is, I think, a very 
fair description of ash with lapili. Again, I must also remark that 
the felstone of Baramoola has always been described by travellers, 
and by geologists also, as mica-slate, though it contains no mica 
and is nearly wholly made of felspar; what has been taken for mica, 
being minute spindles of glassy albite. It certainly has a slaty 
cleavage, and the most earthy varieties have a close resemblance to 
metamorphic slate, and it is probably this fact which has misled most 
people as to the nature of the rock. It is not therefore impossible that 
some of the “‘ mica-slate,’”’ mentioned above, is in reality earthy felstone. 
16. The position of the Pir Punjal chain is rather peculiar, abut- 
ting as it does at both ends against enormous centres of volcanic rocks, 
and being separated by a great fault (the valley of Kashmir) from moun- 
tains also composed of the same rocks. In the enormous accumulation 
of amygdaloidal ash, agglomerate and conglomerate which we shall 
see, by and bye, on the other side of the valley, there is abundant 
proof of the existence of open volcanoes in this part of the Himalaya, 
at the time the porphyry was in a fluid or viscid state. The extreme 
* J do not give the name of the person who kindly gave me the information 
quoted, as 1 do not agree with him on the origin of these rocks, and believe 
that he missed appreciating their true value, though his description is 
accurate. 
