200 Mr. Verchere on the Geology of Kashmir } [No. 3 



amount of sand and clay which was washed into it from the volcanic 

 islands which studded it, by a rain-fall of tremendous volume. 



57. We have yet to describe the second and third catenated chains 

 of Kashmir ; the second is marked by the summits of Liwapatur 

 (13,012), Churn Wolkalbul (14,310), Girdwali (14,060), Batgool 

 (14,423), Boorwaz (13,087;, Handil (13,273), Saijhaha (11,334), and 

 joins the first parallel at the Safapoor on the eastern shore of the 

 Woolar lake. On the other side of the lake, it is continued by the 

 Kahoota, the Manganwar (8,728), and the Sheri Bal. These moun- 

 tains are all composed of volcanic rocks and of azoic slate inter- 

 bedded with ash and agglomerate. They need not therefore be 

 described in detail. The Boorwaz, Handil and Batgool form 

 a porphyritic mass which is generally described by travellers as 

 granite ; it passes gradually on the west into amygdaloid and green- 

 stone to form the summits of Saijhaha over the village of Gunder- 

 bul. The transition between the porphyry and the greenstone is 

 a feldspathic rock of a pale colour and imbedding very numerous 

 transparent crystals of quartz, a description of rock which is also 

 found to form a passage between the porphyry and the feist one of 

 the Kaj Nag. From the examination of a few specimens, kindly 

 given to me by travellers, I have no doubt that the whole of this mass 

 of mountains is composed of volcanic rocks, volcanic ejecta and slate. 

 I am not aware that limestone exists anywhere amongst the spurs 

 of these hills. Between the valley of Thral or Trahal and the river 

 Lidar, there is a great labyrinth of mountains with many of the 

 summits enumerated above, but I could obtain no information 

 regarding them. I therefore requested Captain MacQaeen, of the Punjab 

 Irregular Force, who had arranged a shooting expedition to these hills 

 to be kind enough to bring me a few specimens of the commonest 

 rocks of the country he was about to visit, and also any rock which 

 appeared to him in any way remarkable. By the use of the speci- 

 mens thus obtained, and the examination of Captain MacQueen's 

 route on the map, I was enabled to ascertain that the whole mass of 

 these mountains is composed of the same volcanic rocks, which I have 

 described in detail at the Tukt-i-Suliman and the Zebanwan. Ashes 

 appear to have been accumulated in enormous quantity ; they are 

 interbedded with bands of black compact slate such as is so well seen 



