308 SIKKIM HIMALAYA. Chap. XIII. 



forests, which were succeeded by the russet-brown of the 

 rhododendron shrubs, and that again by tremendous pre- 

 cipices and gulleys, into which descended mighty glaciers 

 and perpetual snows. This excessive steepness is however 

 only apparent, being due to foreshortening. 



The upper 10,000 feet of Kinchin, and the tops of 

 Pundim, Kubra, and Junnoo, are evidently of granite, 

 and are rounded in outline : the lower peaks again, as 

 those of Nursing, &c, present rugged pinnacles of black 

 and red stratified rocks, in many cases resting on white 

 granite, to which they present a remarkable contrast. The 

 general appearance was as if Kinchin and the whole mass 

 of mountains clustered around it, had been up-heaved by 

 white granite, which still forms the loftiest summits, and 

 has raised the black stratified rocks in some places to 

 20,000 feet in numerous peaks and ridges. One range 

 presented on every summit a cap of black stratified rocks 

 of uniform inclination and dip, striking north-west, with 

 precipitous faces to the south-west : this was clear to the 

 naked eye, and more evident with the telescope, the 

 range in question being only fifteen miles distant, running 

 between Pundim and Nursing. The fact of the granite 

 forming the greatest elevation must not be hastily attributed 

 to that igneous rock having burst through the stratified, 

 and been protruded beyond the latter : it is much more 

 probable that the upheaval of the granite took place at a 

 vast depth, and beneath an enormous pressure of stratified 

 rocks and perhaps of the ocean ; since which period the 

 elevation of the whole mountain chain, and the denudation 

 of the stratified rocks, has been slowly proceeding. 



To what extent denudation has thus lowered the peaks 

 we dare scarcely form a conjecture ; but considering the 

 number and variety of the beds which in some places 



