1842.] of the Himmalay a Mountains. lxxvii 



the bed of this river consist of granite, gneiss, micaceous schist, and 

 hornblende rock, all of them substances at present found in situ only at 

 a considerable distance. 



162. Ascending to Reowthul, numerous indications are observed of a 

 limestone formation; clay slate does not entirely disappear, but the 

 higher ridges in the neighbourhood, judging by the outline and general 

 appearance, are evidently limestone. This rock affords one of the 

 instances in these mountans in which disposition of form and colour is 

 an unerring guide to the nature of the rock, forming a series of irregular 

 terraces or ledges, the faces of which are always precipitous, and stained 

 with black and yellow, the outline of the summit presenting a rather 

 flat curve; it is impossible to confound the limestone of these moun- 

 tains with any other rock. There is certainly a local physiognomy in 

 rocks, if I may so express myself, which enables a person familiar with 

 them, frequently to determine correctly their nature, from the mere 

 view of the mountains in which they are formed. But there is no 

 truth in the opinion that would extend these local phenomena to a 

 wider sphere, so as to make them instances of a general law. 



163. At Reowthul, there are several smelting houses for obtaining 

 iron from a hydrated peroxide, (prismatic iron ore,) which is found in 

 the neighbourhood. I had not time to visit the place whence the ore 

 is obtained, but I examined the specimens of it which they had 

 brought for smelting. It is a light scoriaceous yellowish brown crust, 

 and very similar to deposits of the same ore which I have seen in 

 other localities as originating in streams, permeating argillaceous schist, 

 and strongly charged with ferruginous matter. The iron is said to 

 be in repute. 



164. From this village the route passes round the brow of the range 

 to the Pass immediately above Surara, and in this line wherever the rock 

 is seen it would appear to be limestone, with some trifling exception in 

 the occurrence of a micaceous argillaceous schist. At Surara again, the 

 rocks are all limestone, presenting that appearance so common to this 

 class, of huge amorphous masses united to others often honeycombed or 

 irregularly varied in surface or regularly stratified, or even schistose. 

 Yet I would say on a large view of the phenomena, that this rock 

 seems to be always most regularly stratified when most impure, and 

 vice versa. Another appearance remarkable in this limestone is the aries 



