1842.] of the Himmalay a Mountains. cxix 



found scattered about the surface of a hill in the vicinity of this mine, 

 but no trace could be obtained of a deposit in situ. These pieces are 

 all natural magnets, and have two or more poles according to their 

 shape. Under Kaleenath, the schist becomes highly carburetted and soils 

 strongly ; some pieces are white, and on the summit of the ridge where 

 the carburetted type entirely prevails, nodules of graphite are found. 

 The dip in this vicinity changes to N. 44° and N. 22° W., the inclina- 

 tion being 45° and 30°. The rock is latterly extremely like a sandstone, 

 and so friable, that no specimen is obtainable. 



259. A short line yet remains to complete the details of the schistose 

 band of rocks, previously to entering on the description of the granite 

 beds. It is the route followed in an excursion from Petorahgurh to visit 

 the copper mines. At Seera, argillaceous schist prevails for the first few 

 miles, to which succeed dolomitic rocks of very variable appearance and 

 grain. Occasionally, they are of very loose aggregation, and crumble to 

 pieces in attempting to procure a specimen, occasionally though these 

 latter are chiefly fragments. In the bed of the river they are so hard and 

 tough that the hammer will scarcely make any impression on them. In 

 every case the grain is crystalline, but very various in size, even within 

 the limits of a hand specimen. Clay slate occurs of a deep iron black 

 colour with straight laminae, very hard and very brittle. It has a kind 

 of iridescent tarnish, sometimes, on the face of cleavage. Near Kinder 

 Besool, the limestone rocks, less decidedly dolomitic, continue mixed 

 irregularly amongst patches of slate. 



260. The route now ascends to Dhurmgurh, situated on the ridge 

 which overlooks the Seera valley, carrying clay slate along that line, and 

 then descends to the mines, which are immediately below the Pass. 

 They are situated in a formation, or bed I should rather call it, for the 

 former term is too general, in which indurated talc, (potstone and talc 

 slate of geologists,) and crystalline granular dolomite are irregularly 

 mixed. They must indeed here be considered as the same rock, 

 geologically speaking, for they mutually interfere, and hand specimens 

 may be obtained in which both substances are separately observable 

 as well as in mixture ; access is wanting to the junction of this bed with 

 the surrounding slate, so that its exact nature cannot be ascertained, 

 that is to say, whether it be really a bed or vein. The copper ore is 

 most commonly copper pyrites, (pyramidal copper pyrites,) and it is 



