326 



Geological Features of the Himalayan Mountains, [April 



ted, might be represented by a right angled triangle, the base resting 

 on the pass, the perpendicular facing towards the S.W., and the hypo- 

 thenuse sloping towards the N.E., and corresponding in dip with the 

 strata. This side is sometimes continued to the level of the pass ; at 

 odiers, another hill, with its perpendicular side, seems to arise fronn the 

 middle of the last, and is itself, in like manner, succeeded by a third, 

 forming a succession of abrupt and sloping sides, like the teeth of a saw. 

 At Hurdwar, the sandstone character is complete, and the rock is suffi- 

 ciently hard to be used as a building stone. About fifty or sixty feet 

 were cut through to make a road between the river and the hills, by 

 Capt. De Bude, of Engineers, at the back of whose house, on the Hill, 

 rolled stones might also be seen lying upon the sawdstone. These hills 

 are composed of a series of clays, of a loose-grained sandstone, with 

 much mica interspersed; beds of gravel and rolled stones, which con- 

 sist of the debris of every variety of rock : as granite and trap-rocks, 

 limestone and clay-slates, gneiss, micaceous and hornblende schists ; in 

 fact, of all the rocks of which the Himalayas are composed. Carbonate 

 of lime is interspersed throughout the formation, forming stalactites 

 and encrusting leaves, &c. Carbonate of soda is also found effloresced 

 in many situations. In some moist situations the boulders are some- 

 times so soft, that quartz crumbles in the hands more easily than a 

 piece of sugar. 



The gravel and boulders found on these hills are very extensively 

 diffused. They are abundant in the series of longitudinal valleys which 

 are bounded to the S.W. by the Sandstone range, and on the N.E. by 

 the Clay-slate formation of the Himalayas. These have been enume- 

 rated by Capt. Herbert as the Mokowala or Ropur, Pinjore, Kyarda, 

 Deyra, and Patle, all between the Sutlej and the Gograh, and again, 

 that of Chetuan, which lies to the north of Bettiah. They are from 

 twenty to twenty-five miles in length, and of variable breadth, the 

 widest being about fifteen miles. They have two outlets for their 

 drainage, and their highest level is usually near the middle. The sur- 

 face is level or undulating, intersected by ravines, or river beds ; the 

 rock is seldom seen, except on their boundaries. The soil of the Deyra 

 Valley, in most of the uncleared parts, as well as in many of those long 

 cultivated, is intermixed with these rounded pebbles and boulders, 

 which are also found at great depths. In the well dug by the Hon. 

 Mr. Shore, they were brought up from two hundred and fifty feet; but 

 I observed that those from the greatest depths were angular, and corn- 

 posed of clay-slate and limestone similar to that of the nearest, or 

 Mussooree range ; but like the shingle of the Sandstone range, or that 



