40 
SECOND YARKAND MISSION. 
May 2nd, Shashtupa, 18 miles. — For the first 6 or 7 miles the rocks are apparently 
gneiss ; further, hlack slates and shales overlie the metamorphic rocks, and the hills on both 
sides become more rounded. Immediately above the gneiss the slates look rather metamorphic, 
but, further on, they are of the usual type, and reddish beds overlie them near the camp- 
The dip is low to north by east. 
[The whole march nearly was over what Dr. Stoliczka terms “ shingle beds,” and the 
watershed was formed by a mixture of boulders and sand. See diary. 1 * ] 
May 3rd, Isligh, 18 miles. — About three miles north of camp the upper reddish slates of 
the silicious group are overlaid by darkish grey limestone, dipping to north by east. I found 
no fossils in it. This limestone («) is about 1,000 feet thick, and extends for about a quarter 
of a mile. Then follows a very indistinctly stratified white or light grey limestone (Z 3 ), 
which must be at least 2,000 feet thick, and extends for about one mile. I saw Crinoid stem^ 
in it, hut nothing else. After this follows, again, a darker grey limestone, evidently belong- 
ing to a different series, being unconformable on the former. This series of limestones forms 
the highest ridge, some of the rugged mountains rising to fully 20,000 feet; and the 
thickness of the rocks must he from 3,000 to 4,000 feet. The general strike is west by 
north to east by south, and the dip to north by east, or almost north, with angles ranging 
from 80° to 90°. The thickness of this limestone series must be about 3,000 feet. The 
whole of these limestones appear to be of palaeozoic age — probably for the most part carboni- 
ferous. 
After this follows a great series of dark shales, with beds of limestone. The shales them- 
selves (8) are highly carbonaceous, and the limestones are earthy, mostly thin-bedded, but 
greatly contorted, rising in more or less vertical ridges. 
May 4th, Aktash, 36 miles. — After four miles over the plain, the road led for two miles 
through a narrow gorge between limestone (-:), on which, further on, rest brownish, rather 
silicious sandstone, and grey, then black, crumbling shales. The road crosses a low pass, and 
then follows through these shales, in almost a due eastern direction, to the junction with the 
Isligh. The whole road passes through these shales, with a little sandstone, but more of the 
earthy limestone. The series extended north, as far as I could see, the shale hills being 
rounded, and the limestone ridges sharp. Greenstone appears to pierce through it in the 
distance, and the elevations of the hills appears to decrease. South of the road runs the 
high limestone range in a west by north to east by south direction towards Aktash. The shales 
(d) and limestones (?) appear to be triassic. Near Isligh I saw a lot of Bhynchoncllce in one 
of the earthy limestone beds, but could not extract any tiling very recognisable. 
May oth, halted at Aktash. — Going about a mile north of camp, and then tunring in fl 
western direction up a gorge, I found myself north of the great limestone hill, and here, resting 
on the limestone, were the dark crumbling shales, exactly like the Spiti shales in mineralogies^ 
character. The shales (8) contained a few beds of the brown sandstone, but both appeared 
entirely unfossiliferous. In the interbedded limestone (e) I found, however, a great number 
of Bhynchonellce, which decidedly appear to be triassic, if not younger. In the more com- 
pact limestone I could only see crinoids, no other distinguishable fossil ; not a trace of a 
Cephalopod. In a block of more earthy grey limestone loose in the stream bed I got several 
Rhynchonellce ; but I am not sure whether that limestone is (=) ; it seems more probably (y) 
1 It is not quite clear from the diary what Dr. Stoliczka’s views were on the subject of these accumulation. He repeatedly 
says they must have been brought down by suow, or snow and ice. He never mentions glaciers or moraines, and never notices th f 
presence or absence of striation on the rocks. 
