18 Dr. Verchere on the Geology of Kashmir, [No. 1, 



hills formed by the first upheaval were so low, and their beds pro- 

 bably so near the horizontal position, that the non-conformity of these 

 beds and of the Miocene beds is not now very apparent, both sets of 

 beds having been redisturbed to a great extent by the final great 

 upheaval of the Himalayan mountains. 



62. In the country of the Wuzeerees, lat. N. 32° 15' to 32° 45' 

 and Long. E. 69° 45' to 70° 15', we find the continuation towards 

 the north of the Soolimanee Range to be formed of a chain of 

 mountains of which the Pir Gul (11,583) and the Shewy Dhur 

 (10,998) are the highest summits. These high summits were not 

 ascended by the expeditionary force against the Mosood Wuzeerees in 

 1860, but the army marched along the fine plateau of Rusmuk 

 (7,000 ft.) which skirts the main chain; and by collecting the pebbles 

 of the torrents which descend from these high peaks I was enabled to 

 estimate to a certain extent the mineral nature of the central ridge. 

 These pebbles were all volcanic, trappean and metamorphic, and none 

 of a granitic nature were found. The following specimens of rocks 

 were collected in ravines descending directly from the Shewy Dhur : 

 basalt, having the appearance of hard jet ; it is divided by joints and 

 by innumerable cracks filled with carbonate of lime. It fuses quietly 

 before the blow-pipe into a black bead. Some varieties do not shew 

 the cracks filled with carbonate of lime, but are schistose in appearance, 

 and the joints, which are large, are lined by quartzite, Half inch 

 thick plates of volcanic ash, composed of a central layer of a pale 

 dirty-greenish and compact mineral, and external layers of a brownish 

 granular substance. The central layer fuses very easily before the 

 blow-pipe, boiling up into a swollen and blistered surface ; it has the 

 appearance of tremolite, the outer layer appears to be a mixture of 

 tremolite with grains of augite ; the augite here and there forms 

 little masses, and these fuse partially, the assay becoming studded with 

 minute dark globules. Hornblende rock with grey mica. The paste 

 appears to be an intimate mixture of felspar and hornblende, and is 

 invaded by irregular and small plates of grey mica ; the rock is 

 divided by a series of well-marked joints, an inch apart. An augitic 

 porphyry ; the paste is perfectly black and apparently composed of 

 chatoyant augite ; it is invaded by closely set and minute prismatic 

 crystals of dull white albite ; it is more like a porphyritic lava than 

 like a true prophyry. 



