94 Mr. Verchere on the Geology of Kashmir, [No. 2, 



pine wood which have been cut and prepared for burning, and have 

 weathered grey by exposure. It has a well marked stratification, 

 which is cut obliquely to its plane by a slaty cleavage which forms with 

 it an angle of about 113°. It has also a series of parallel joints, 

 about 2 or 3 feet apart, and which cut the stratification at right angles 

 but form with the cleavage an angle of 67°. The joints are usually 

 lined by a coating of quartzite, and both quartzite and felstone are 

 occasionally stained by iron. 



The felstone appears to be entirely composed of elongated and 

 flattened granules of felspar or albite, which has a sub-vitreous lustre 

 when closely examined ; it has a dark bluish-grey colour, but weathers 

 ash-grey and even dirty white and some pieces which are very fissile, 

 assume somewhat the silky appearance of amianthus. The colour of 

 the paste appears to be due to augite ; this, by decomposition, lets free 

 a certain quantity of iron which causes the surfaces of cleavage and 

 stratification to be covered by a powdery, rusty incrustation. Sparingly 

 disseminated in the mass are seen minute fusiform nodules of dark 

 shining augite ; these nodules are never crystalline. Some strata 

 are extremely thin-bedded, like sheets of paper, and fall to pieces very 

 easily, ultimately decomposing into a brownish earth. Other strata 

 present an alternation of very thin laminae of nearly white and dull 

 albite, and a dark grey shining mixture of felspar and augite, so that, 

 when the rock is broken vertically, it appears striped white and grey. 



3. The above beds dip S. and a few degrees E., with an angle of 

 60° near the Atala hill, but the angle diminishes as we go towards 

 the N. W., being no more than 45°, near the river at Baramoola. 

 For two miles along the left bank of the Jheelum, this felstone was 

 observed with, here and there, a band of amygdaloid interbedded. 

 But I made too superficial an examination of the Atala to enter here 

 into detail. Crossing the river to the right bank, we find that felstone 

 also forms the hills which overhang Baramoola. Just over the city, 

 it is similar to that of Atala, but as we proceed towards the N. W. 

 and therefore see deeper beds, the character of the beds changes 

 considerably. There is a beginning of separation of the minerals of 

 the felstone, the dull white albite forming by itself innumerable 

 penicilli having the shape of extremely elongated spindles which 

 are imbedded in the grey felspathic paste. The rock has still, 



