202 Mr. Verchere on the Geoloyy of Kashmir , &c. [No. 3 



58. The third catenated chain is composed of summits of great 

 •height, the Gwashbrari (17,839), the Harbagwan (16,055) the Basmai 

 (15,652) ; and the Haramook (16,903), and many other peaks which, 

 with their spurs and connecting ridges, separate Kashmir proper 

 from Tillail and Gurais. All these high summits are formed by- 

 porphyry having a granitoid appearance, which passes, towards the 

 north, into felstone generally earthy and similar to the earthy fel- 

 stone of the Atala Mount near Baramoola. On the north-western 

 extremity of the chain, this felstone becomes continued with that of 

 the great chain of hills which unites the Kaj Nag to the Ser and Mer 

 chain. This flaggy rock is continued to near the city of Gurais 

 where, in the valley of the Kishengunga, beds of limestone 

 appear extending from about 15 miles N. W. of Gurais to Tillail. 

 The limestone is, after a break, continued at the Sono Murg 

 and is in all probability identical to that of this locality. I have 

 never seen any specimen or fossil from the Tillail limestone, but the 

 Sono Murg limestone is Carboniferous, and it is most probable that 

 the Tillail limestone, which appears to be the continuation of that 

 bed, belongs to the same epoch. 



Due north of Sono Murg, the limestone is much developed and 

 forms the summit of a considerable peak. 



The porphyry-centres of mountains pass towards the south to rocks 

 of an appearance different from that of the northern spurs ; while 

 we have seen that, towards the north, the porphyry generally graduates 

 to a felstone more or less earthy. Towards the south it changes, as we 

 travel from the peaks towards the end of the spurs, into trachyte, 

 greenstone, amygdaloid, basalt, ash and agglomerate, together with 

 interstratified, azoic and often amygdaloidal slate. 



The northern spurs of Gwashbrari, the Harbagwan and the Basmai 

 are composed of felstone, and near the road to Drass, in the valley 

 of the Sind Torrent, of amygdaloid and ash. On these beds of 

 ejecta rest fossiliferous beds, and, near the small village of Sono Murg, 

 the beds of limestone are well developed. Captain Godwin- Austen 

 found in that locality some fossils which he was kind enough to 

 show me. They were identical with the forms described as charac- 

 teristic of the Kothair group of Carboniferous limestone, viz, the 

 Gasteropoda and CyatJiophyllida which are represented at PI. VIII. 



