94 MIDDLEMISS: GEOLOGY OF HAZARA AND BLACK MOUNTAIN. 



The gently undulating surface of the station in spring and summer 

 is bountifully covered with green grass, and the bungalows of the 

 residents peep out from among gardens rich in shade trees and 

 orchards, the latter including apricot, quince, peach, plum, pear, 

 cherry, and the grape vine. The hedge-rows and-gardens are adorned 

 with roses and other flowers, whilst buttercups and dandelions deck 

 the grass. 1 



This park-like almost English beauty of Abbottabad in the spring- 

 time never fails to strike the new-comer in contrast to the bare and 

 dust-coloured panorama of the low country of the Punjab. 



The Abbottabad plain merges north-eastwards into the Mansehruh 

 plain, whilst towards the east it rounds the north end of Sirban hill 

 and descends rapidly, but gradually, to the level of the gravel terraces 

 of the Dore near Dhumtour. Thus from the level of Abbottabad, 

 4,000 feet, to Turbela on the Indus, 1,200 feet, the disposition of the 

 gravel and alluvium forming what appear to be flat plains is really, 

 as has already been explained, that of a uniform slope with a curve 

 concave towards the sky, and with a regular diminishing steepness 

 towards the lower level. 



North-east of the Abbottabad plain the Slate zone grows in 

 height, steepness, and ruggedness. The great geological complex 

 near Meerpoor, Kakool, Turnawaee, Dubbun, and Gurhee-Hubeeb- 

 ooluh has resulted in a surface of rocky steeply-carved ridges and 

 ravines, difficult of access, and most of them connected in an irregular 

 way with the great Tandiani mountain-mass and its northern and 

 western offshoots. But here, as elsewhere in this zone, it is not 

 difficult to trace out the prevailing direction and parallelism of ridges 

 as according with that of the strike of the country, that is about N.E. 

 — S.W. At the same time the main watershed, consisting of a num- 

 ber of high peaks with gaps or passes between them and stretching 

 from Sichar peak, 8,645 feet, to Mianjani, 9,793 feet, crosses this 

 direction almost at right angles, and is often spoken of as a ridge, and 



1 Why fruit trees are not introduced throughout the plains of Hazara, now that the 

 country enjoys complete peace, instead of the latter depending almost entirely for 

 fruit on Kashmir, has always been a puzzle to me. 



( 94 ) 



