578 Journal of a trip through Kunawur, fyc. [No. 102. 



In the autumn and winter the mines are abandoned on account of 

 the snow, and the return of spring invariably discloses the destruction 

 of them, by the splitting of the frost-bound rocks. 



Last year (1837) the quantity of ore obtained, exclusive of the Ra- 

 jah's duty, was from sixteen to seventeen maunds. Were these rocks 

 situated in the lower hills, free from the severer action of frost and 

 snow, they would doubtless yield a good return for the labour of work- 

 ing them, as the ore is by no means scarce, or only on the surface as 

 has been stated. It occurs in veins in several parts of the mountain, 

 and is deep seated ; the fact of its occurring on the surface, is 

 simply because the outcropping of the strata exposes it to view, 

 but the vein dips down to the N. E. between the beds of grey- 

 wacke and old red sandstone, and is thus inaccessible to the rude 

 method practised by the people, whose excavations or mines are inva- 

 riably filled up with rubbish during the winter. The ore is found on 

 both sides of the valley, at about 13,000 feet above the sea, and 4,000 

 feet above Soongnum. 



At the foot of the rocks I found my tent ready pitched among the 

 cedar trees. Halting here for the night, I, on the following morning 

 again returned to Soongnum, whence after a day's rest, I proceeded to 

 recross the Roonung Pass. 



The march from Soongnum is one of great fatigue ; the road being 

 one long continued ascent from the stream below the town to the sum- 

 mit of the Pass, or leading to a perpendicular height of 5,200 feet in a 

 distance of about five miles. 



The road, which on my arrival here in the beginning of June, was 

 with the whole hill side buried deep in snows, was now on the 10th 

 July quite free in its whole extent, with the exception of a few yards 

 at the summit, where the snow still formed a long, and hardened belt. 

 Flowers of many kinds were seen along the way. The " Saxifraga 

 eiliata," at a height of 12,500 or 13,000 feet, was just opening into 

 flower, and the bright colours of a yellow potentilla, tinged the whole 

 hill side. 



On the southern face of this mountain not a trace of snow was any 

 where to be seen, but in its place a most beautiful and refreshing 

 sheet of young and luxuriant vegetation, sprinkled with the bright 

 colours of various flowers. 



