23 
GEOLOGY. 
tertiary group. 1 Among the sandy and clayey deposits I was not a little surprised to find 
rue Loess, as typical as it can anywhere he seen in the valleys of the Rhine or of the Danube- 
1 might even speak of “ Berg ” and “ Thal-Loss,” hut I shall not enter into details on this 
occasion, for I may have a much better opportunity of studying this remarkable deposit. 
- t piesent I will only notice that commonly we meet with extensive deposits of Loess only in 
u valleys. Its thickness varies in places from 10 to 80 and more feet — a fine yellowish 
<<e stratified clay, occasionally with calcareous concretions and plant fragments. In Europe 
e 01 'Sm of this extensive deposit was, and is up to the present date, a disputed question. 
L ‘dural ly , if a geologist is not so fortunate as to travel beyond the “ Rhein- ” or “ Donau - thal, 
ancl is accustomed to be surrounded with the verdant beauty of these valleys, he might 
impose half a dozen theories ; and, as he advances in his experience, disprove the probability of 
‘me after the other, until his troubled mind is wearied of prosecuting the object further. 
me in. the desert countries, where clouds of fertile dust replace those of beneficial vapoui , 
" here the atmosphere is hardly ever clear and free from sand, nay occasionally saturated with 
-the explanation that the Loess is a subaerial deposit is almost involuntarily pressed upon 
<me ’ s ’mud. I do not think that by this I am advancing a new idea; for, unless I am very 
much mistaken, it was my friend Baron Richthofen who came to a similar conclusion 
111 ing his recent sojourn in Southern China. 
Yarkand lies about 5 miles from the river, far away from the hills, in the midst of a 
'' motivated land, intersected by numerous canals of irrigation ; a land full of interest 
°l tlle agriculturist, but where the geological mind soon involuntarily falls into repose. And 
W „ hat shall I say of our road from Yarkand to Kashghar ? Little of geological interest, I am 
afraid. 
Leaving Yarkand, we passed for the first few miles through cultivated land, which, how- 
' ° 1 ’ ®°°n gave way to the usual aspect of the desert, or something very little hcttei. A 
< u ’ niilc s south-west of Ivokrabat a low ridge runs from south-east to north-west. If we 
a,e allowed to judge from the numerous boulders of red sandstone and 6 ryphrea marl, 
s °me °f considerable size and scarcely river-worn, we might consider the ridge, as being 
‘ mnposed of cretaceous rocks. But one hardly feels consoled with the idea that in wading 
U °ugh the sand he is only crossing a former cretaceous basin, and that the whole of this 
Untry has remained free from the encroachment of any of the casnozoic seas. It is very 
j . n ^ (>1 °Us to jump to conclusions regarding the nature of ground untouched by the geological 
Um or. The answer to any doubt must for the present remain a desideiatum. 
■ On the fourth day of our march, approaching Yangihissar, we also crossed a few very 
Jl ridges ; but these consisted entirely of gravel and marly clay beds, most of them dipping 
1 11 a very high angle to south by east, the strike being nearly due east and west. South ot 
an gihissar the ridge bent towards south-west, and there was also a distant low ridge trace- 
. 6 ln a north-easterly direction, the whole having the appearance of representing the shore 
some large inland water-sheet. Erom Yangihissar to Kashghar we traversed only low land, 
dually more or less thicklv covered with a saline efflorescence, hut still to a considerable 
ext( *t cultivated. 
a note in the diary of May 31st, made on the return journey from Yarkand, it appears that Dr. Stoliezka ultimately 
eied thes e rocks the equivalents of some examined north of Kashghar, which he termed Artysh beds. 
