1848.] The Turaee and Outer Mountains of Kumaoon. 413 



place ; yet it seems to have been chiefly from this misapprehension, 

 aided by an occasional riband-like wreathe of cloud extracted from 

 the snow by the sun, that the Punj-Choola has been reputed the seat 

 of volcanic action. The only evidence of this hitherto known in the 

 province, is that arising from the recurrence of frequent, but happily 

 slight shocks of earthquakes. 



Sat-choolia and Sat-boonga denote either the pure or the seven 

 summits : they overlook an immense expanse of the Himalaya and of 

 Hindoostan, and are composed exclusively of quartz rock, of which 

 the strata dip to the N. E. and form tremendous precipices to the S. 

 W., amongst which are the springs of the Goula. The range is conti- 

 nued round a deep bay to the N. E., in which direction is the Motesur 

 or Motchur summit, also called Motee Pathur, 7782 feet, of which the 

 rock is mica slate, the dip of the strata identical with that of Sat-choolia. 

 The Mussooree and Landour rocks are all tilted up in the same direc- 

 tion here at Sat-choolia, as well as at Mussooree, this is probably due 

 to the outbursts of trap rocks to the S. W. The parallel dip of the 

 strata in the higher mountains noticed by Herbert and others, would 

 appear to depend, in like manner, on the line of granitic eruption which, 

 inside the Gagur, extends through Kumaon from N. W. to S. E. 

 nearly ; still higher up, but equally parallel, is the great range, in which 

 the chief rivers have their sources ; between these, running S. W. and 

 even south, are the loftiest summits of the Himalaya, the highest of 

 which, Nunda Devee, with its precipitous and apparently stratified front 

 towards Almorah, seems built up on the same model as the lower 

 ranges. The whole of the rocks of the main chain, however, can scarce 

 be stratified: my friend Major Sampson, found the blocks brought 

 down by the Vishnoogunga Glacier above Budreenath to be a normal 

 grey granite. Moreover in the Jagesur range, near Almorah, which 

 attains the elevation of 7721 feet, the rock (mica-slate) dips to the 

 plains. In the case of the Bumouree ranges, where the sandstone 

 strata rise steeply towards the plains, where not a vestige of any up- 

 heaving substance remains, but on the contrary, the land is exceedingly 

 low, it is difficult to account for their position, except by the suppo- 

 sition that the subterranean force acted in a line with a very oblique 

 inclination to the surface. 

 The descent from Sat-choolia may be varied from the ascent by 



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