1866.] the Western Himalaya and Afghan Mountains. 185 



visited by me ; these beds were the top or near the top of the series 

 of Weean limestone seen along the section of the southern aspect 

 of the Zebanwan between Zeeawan and Koonmoo. I said, " From 

 the brow of the last spur I have visited, a fine view is obtained of 

 the next spur, and this is remarkable for a great twist of the strata 

 which compose it. The limestone is extremely white, and resembles 

 chalk-cliffs at a distance." Is it not highly probable that there again 

 we had the same altered limestone ? The beds were wonderfully 

 twisted and folded, whilst those above and below them were hardly 

 affected. 



I consider, therefore, that these altered limestones are portions of 

 the Weean group, and I believe that the alteration was produced by 

 bursts of water at a very high temperature, or of gases hot and 

 compressed; the eruptive power of these agents being sufficiently 

 powerful to displace and uplift the calcareous mud of the sea-bottom, 

 a mud which must have been plastic, from the great admixture of clay 

 it contained, and which was covered by no great depth of water. It 

 is for such an action, as I have supposed, that Mr. Dumont has proposed 

 the term of "G-eyserian" action, and for the rocks precipitated from these 

 watery volcanoes (such as the felspathic sand with quartzite of the 

 Kafir Kote) the name of Geyserian rocks. The name is sufficiently 

 suggestive and requires no explanation. It is probable that the 

 quartzite which we have seen placed between the volcanic rocks and 

 the limestone, belongs to that class of rocks. 



47. The Arpat river runs through a district named Kothair or 

 Kotehar, and it is from this district that I have named the uppermost 

 bed of the Carboniferous (?) limestone of Kashmir. We have seen 

 a small patch of this bed near Koonmoo, in the Zebanwan, but we 

 will find the bed well developed in the next hills we are about to 

 visit. 



A few miles to the S. E. of Islamabad is a mass of well-wooded 

 and picturesque mountains which separates the valley of the Arpat 

 river from the Nowboog valley. Arckbal, Tippoo, Karpur, Dhar and 

 Nawkan are summits which appear to form the centre of a small 

 system of hills ; their height is between 8 and 9000 feet, and they 

 deserve careful study. I was unfortunately not able to do more than 

 pay the most superficial visit to Arckbal and the iron mines of Kothair j 

 and the following are the notes taken during that visit. 



