338 LIETTT.-GEN. C. A. MCMAHON OK" [May I9OO, 



Great and Little Pamirs, and other territory in Central Asia 

 adjoining the Giigit area, by W. T. Blanford, LLJ)., F.R.S. based 

 on the collections and notes of the late Ferdinand Stoliczka, Ph.D., 

 will be found in the Scientific Results of the 2nd Yarkand Mission, 

 Calcutta, 1878. A description of thirteen rock-specimens from 

 the Little Pamir by T. H. Holland, A.E.C.S., F.G.S., Geol. Surv. 

 India, is given in the Natural History Results of the Pamir 

 Boundary Commission, Calcutta, 1898. 



As I purpose so far as possible, for the sake of brevity, to give 

 results rather than dry technical details, I may mention that my 

 petrological remarks aie based on a careful study of 156 thin slices 

 of rocks, and a still larger number of special chemical and micro- 

 scopical studies of fragments of these rocks. 



Giigit has not yet been visited by a professional geologist, but 

 we are indebted to two gentlemen for some knowledge of the 

 geology of the district. 



The first observer to write about the rocks of this region was 

 Furgeon-Capt. G. M. Giles, I.M.S., 1 who traversed the Giigit Valley 

 as far as the Kilik Pass. He considered that the rocks presented 

 a monotonous uniformity, and that, as all of them were thoroughly 

 metamorphic, it would be useless to attempt to assign to them a 

 relative position in time. He noted 2 the occurrence of crystalline 

 limestone at Hini, and again between Pasu and Khaibar; and of a 

 pale compact limestone between Khaibar and Gircha. He noted at 

 various points the outcrop of masses of gneiss, garnetiferous mica- 

 schists, granite, micaceous schists, slaty schists, greenstones, and 

 slates intercalated between the outcrops of limestone, and mentions 

 that between Pasu and Khaibar the slates are sufficiently fissile to 

 yield good roofing-material. The author's observations, however, 

 are not continuous; he does not appear to have left the beaten track ; 

 and when the road passed over alluvium, snow, or talus, which it 

 did for many miles at a stretch, his record regaiding the solid rocks 

 remained a blank. 



Capt. Giles does not appear to have suspected that any of his 

 gneiss was an intrusive rock, or that much of the metamorphism 

 which he considered so monotonous had its origin in the contact- 

 action of these igneous masses. He kept a record of the dip and 

 strike of the rocks seen by him, and noted it on a sketch-map. 

 From Giigit to the Kilik Pass the strike is correctly represented as 

 being east and west, with the exception of that between Nomal 

 and Safed Ab ; and between Ghulkin and Gircha the strike is said 

 to be more or less north-west and south-east. 



Capt. Giles's observations are valuable as far as they go ; but 

 they do not contain anything to throw light on the age of the 

 rocks, or their mutual relations. 



1 The paper has not been prren to the public. 



2 The determination of the rock-names was made by Mr. H. B. Medlicott, 

 F.R.S., then Director-General of the Geological Survey of India. 



