94 Dr. VercMre on the Geology of Kashmir, [No. 2, 



•though it is highly probable that some at least belong to the same 

 epoch. I think it would be a most interesting point to study, 

 whether the Central Indian 'Mountains participated in the great 

 upheaval of the Afghan- Himalayan system, and to what extent they 

 did so. Such a subject is not, however, to be discussed here, en 

 passant. We must know more of what is buried under the alluvial 

 sands and clays of the Punjab and the desert of Ajrneer, before we can 

 decide on the relations of the Himalaya and Central Indian Mountains. 

 The study of the Miocene beds appears the most likely sort of research 

 to lead to interesting results. Could we once show satisfactorily 

 that the plains of Northern India have been one day, and that not long 

 ago (geologically speaking) a rugged country covered with Miocene 

 hillocks and ridges, we should soon get an insight into the participa- 

 tion of the Central Indian Mountains in the great Afghan-Himalayan 

 upheaval, and also into the nature of the soils and sub-soils of. 

 Upper India. 



90. Let us now endeavour to sketch a geognostic history of the 

 Afghan-Himalayan system of mountains, in accordance with the 

 observations and hypotheses recorded in this paper.* 



In the days of the Silurian epoch, the centre of Asia may be assum- 

 ed to have been a sea uniting the Arctic to the Indian Ocean. In 

 the middle of this sea, an archipelago of volcanic islands and subaqueous 

 volcanoes existed, displaying great activity and ejecting into the sea 

 an immense quantity of matter. 



The position of these volcanoes and subaqueous vents is now 

 represented by the porphyritic masses of Kaj-Nag, of Kistwar and 

 Badrawar, by the summits of the catenated chains of Kashmir, 

 &c, &c. The volcanoes were linear in their arrangement ; one line, 

 that of Kaj-Nag, Badrawar and Kistwar being continued far towards 

 the south-east; and it is probable that the peaks of Chor, of Dodatoli 

 and others in the same districts, are volcanic peaks on the same 

 fissure. Another line or rather series of lines is that of the catenated 

 chains in Kashmir, with a probable S. E. extension in the range 

 of mountains which separate Lahool from Chumba. Another line 

 again is that of Brass and Karghyl, at the back of the Ser and Mer 



* A few unavoidable repetitions which occur in this portion of the paper will, 

 I hope, be excused, 



