37 
PART 1.] Lyilekher: Geology of Kaehmir, Kisl.twar, and Vnnyi. 
remaining in some of tlie sections, if we may judge by the parallel bands of color, 
(so characteristic of the triclinic felspars) which appear in certain of the crystals. 
This rock fuses readily into a bead, and contains 64T ]3er cent, of silica. 
The rock designated as B apjicars to consist of an iron-silicate disseminated in 
thick, flocculent masses through a folspathic base ; it shows no traces of a crys¬ 
talline structure; and it may be a trap or it may be an altei'ed slate. The iron- 
silicate in this rock does not appear to be hornblende, since the whole of its color¬ 
ing matter is extracted by hydrochloric acid. This rock also contains a con¬ 
siderable amount of hj''drous minerals, which readily give off water in the matrass, 
on the application of a moderate heat; it contains 6‘2’9 per cent, of silica, 30 per 
cent, of alumina and iron, a considerable quantity of lime, and a small quantity of 
magnesia. As far as its chemical composition goes, there is thwefore no reason 
why this rock should not be a trap ; the absence of distinct crystalline structure 
is somewhat against this view, though Colonel McAlahon mentions that certain 
rocks from Edinburgh described as basalts do not exhibit crystalline structure. 
Colonel McMahon suggests that it is not im])o.ssiblc that this rock may be a 
sub-aqueous volcanic product, such as ashes deposited in the form of mud on a 
sea-bottom, or the product of the snb-aiirial erosion of trap. 
The amygdaloidal rock C according to Colonel McMahon appears to be a 
trap, since it shows the same quaquaversal arrangement of the fels))ai' ciystals 
which w'as observed in A; this peculiar structure Colonel McMahon considei's 
could not be produced by aqueous metamorphism. As was the case with A, thi.s 
rock also shows abundant signs of subsequent metamorphism, patches of chlorite 
occuring in many places in the crystals ; the rock was probably at first a porous or 
scoriaceous, igneous product, and has been subsequently altered by the infiltration 
of extraneous substances through its pores. 
The above observations of Colonel McMahon on the Manasbal rocks are of 
great importance; from these observations it appears to be pretty evident that at 
least some of these rocks are of igneous origin, and it is further evident that all of 
them have been altered by subsequent metamorphism. The resemblance of the 
amygdaloids of the Pir Panjal to those of Manasbal, which we have already 
referred to, renders it probable that some of the former are also of igneoils origin. 
A greater amount of subsequent mctamorphic action in one part of Kashmir than 
in another, would account for the discrepancy in the character of the rocks wliich 
so often occur. Thus at Manasbal this metamorphio action appears to have 
been of great force, and has not improbably merged both slate.s, trap-ashes, and 
perhaps true traps into a homogeneous rock like B, which is intercalated with, 
and in the mass indistingui.shable fi'om, true trap rocks like A and C ; in the Pir 
Panjal, on the other hand, the metamorphic action has been less strong, and has 
not generally altered the slates, except jiorhaps occasionally near the amygdaloids, 
into a rock resembling trap. In the one area tlie whole rock-series looks like 
an igneous rock, and shows no signs of stratification ; while in the other the 
igneous rocks occur generally as thick bands in the aqueous, and the series taken 
as a whole consequently shows very distinct signs of stratification. Intermediate 
states of metamorphism, coupled possibly with a gi’eater or lesser eruption of 
ashes, would account for the condition of rocks which, like those of parts of the 
