70 Mr. Fraser on the Himalay Mountains . 
mountains are so perpendicular, sometimes find their way below; 
and judging from such wrecks, and from examinations with a good 
glass, these peaks are formed of the same rocks as are detailed above 
in the description of the bed of the Jumna, especially the hard grey 
striated stone, (supposed by a friend to be gneiss), and quartz in 
laminas veining the faces of the precipices, but these exhibit many 
colours, red, yellow, and grey, and white, probably from accident of 
weather or ores, for no vegetation of lichens or mosses can take 
place at such an altitude. 
From Jumnotree we crossed a lofty shoulder of this mountain, 
including about thirty miles of country, and descended into the bed 
of the Ganges, (here called Bhagiruttee) which we traced to its source. 
For a considerable portion of the road we had micaceous schist : at 
the loftiest elevation we could not be much more than 3000 feet 
short of the height of Jumnotree ; probably the difference was less. 
We had passed over much snow, and had experienced much severe 
fatigue and oppression of the chest from the rarefaction of the air 
at this great height. One or two of the nearer snowy peaks rose close 
by us to a considerable height, and from their ruins, the pass below 
which we were traversing was formed; there was no vegetation 
whatever, though the time was the 17th of July, and all the lower 
parts of the hill were rich with verdure. It was a savage scene of 
desolation and desertness. Here then we had a fair means of 
judging of the formation of the snowy cliffs. The rocks were 
apparently similar to those found in the bed of the Jumna; the gneiss 
predominated much, and there was a good deal of soft micaceous 
schist, veined with quartz : there were several varieties of a blueish 
grey stone, I believe whin-stone, some much harder than others; 
of this and the schist there are specimens. The stratification was 
here very obvious ; the same pointings 6f the precipitous faces and 
