1842.] of the Himmalay a Mountains. li 



met with near Wongtoo, (Art. 87,) doubtless portions of veins, as in 

 many the same circumstance may be observed which was observed 

 there, the adherence of part of the containing rock to one of the sides of 

 the vein. This is always gneiss. 



100. In the bed of the Mundaknee, or Kalee as it is more usually 

 called, below Ookeernauth, many very large rounded blocks are scattered 

 about, of a granite very much resembling the anomalous rock at 

 Wongtoo bridge ; it contains angular nodules of a crystalline felspar 

 imbedded in a granite paste. This felspar is here of the glassy variety, 

 and it is the only example of the mineral I have ever found. These 

 blocks have a smooth surface, unlike the rough and granular appearance 

 left by the phenomenon of desquamation to which granite is subject, 

 and to which so many granite boulders owe their origin. If these 

 boulders have been also formed by this cause, it is equally certain that 

 they have undergone also the attrition, which alone could have smoothed 

 their surfaces to the degree observed. 



101. The only imbedded mineral of any interest in this quarter, is 

 one occurring in small amorphous grains. It is of a bluish grey colour, 

 translucent, a vitreous lustre, and uneven fracture. It is very easily 

 frangible, hardness 5.5 : 6.0. The composition is impalpable. The 

 quantity I was able to procure was so small, that I do not lay much 

 stress on the determination of its specific gravity which appeared to 

 be 2.3. It is certainly not under 2.2, nor more than 2.4. Before 

 the blowpipe it is infusible, but decrepitates. It is not affected by acids. 

 This character does not agree with any mineral yet described, yet I 

 should wish to obtain it in greater quantity, and subject it to a more 

 leisurely examination before I pronounce it new, in all but geological 

 situation and infusibility. Before the blowpipe, it comes very near the 

 species, empyrodox quartz.* 



102. Some of the fragments of gneiss found at Kedurnauth, contain 

 kyanite in flat prisms, from half an inch to an inch in length, and about 

 one- twentieth to one- third of an inch in breadth. Cinnamon stone in 

 grains is also to be found in them. The granite fragments abound in 

 schorl, under its common figure of three-sided prisms,* the lateral angles 

 replaced, terminated by obtuse trihedral summits. The largest I ob- 

 served, was about an inch in length and half an inch in diameter, but the 

 small crystals are always best defined. Hyacinth is more rare, and the 



* MSS. 



