48 
Hecords of the Geological Surrey of India. 
[VOL. XT. 
to find out their age. I must, however, first observe that the carboniferous series 
of Kashmir is liable to great variation in mineralogical composition, even in con¬ 
tiguous areas. Thus, we have seen that at Islamabad this series consists almost 
entirely of limestones; at Eishmakam, limestones are comparatively scarce, and 
sandstones and slates the prevalent rocks; while again at Palgam and Shisha- 
Nag, limestones j)redominate. 
Now, it will be observed that these sedimentary rocks of the Low^er Sind 
valley, if we exeept the lower gneiss, are almost identical in composition with the 
carboniferous rocks of Eishmakam; and I think it possible that they both belong 
to the same period; the lower gneiss beds would be the representatives of the 
sandstones of Eishmakam, which have been altered by some subsequent meta- 
morphic action; which, as we have seen in the case of the trap-like rocks, has 
been strong in this area. 
It is, I think, perfectly clear that these rocks cannot belong to the Silurian 
series, in which limestone never occurs, nor do I think from their composition 
that they belong to the older gneiss, though Mr. Drew apparently favors that 
view. 
In conjecturally referring them to the carboniferous period, however, a diffi¬ 
culty occurs, in that they are so different in mineralogical character to the neigh¬ 
bouring carboniferous limestones of the valley of Kashmir. The only way out 
of this difficulty, to my mind, is in considering that the carboniferous rocks of 
Kashmir were deposited in basins in a sea broken up by islets or peninsulas. 
The rocks deposited in deep water might well be ehicfly calcareous, while those 
deposited in shallows and along the shores w’ould consist of grits, clays, and a few 
calcareous bands. 
This supposition would explain the difference in the two types of undoubted 
carboniferous rocks of Kashmir; the one exemplified by those of the upper Lidar 
valley, and Manasbal, and the other by those of Eishmakam. In the former 
series there is an almost unbroken succession of limestones through the carboni¬ 
ferous and triassic periods, while in the other the upper carboniferous beds are 
all sandy and clayey, and are not overlaid by trias. 
The cai-boniferous limestones of Eastern Kashmir belong to the former type, 
thouo'h we cannot say for certain that they are overlaid by trias; at the Marbal 
pass, as we shall see, they are replaced by rocks of the second or littoral type. 
The gi’its, clays, and limestones of the Lower Sind valley, if, as I think possi¬ 
ble, they are of carboniferous age, must be the littoral deposits of the basin in 
which the massive limestones and dolomites of Manasbal were laid down. I can¬ 
not, however, be at all certain as to the age of these rocks, and have accordingly 
left them blank on the map. 
Before proceeding to examine the rocks of the region of the Wular lake, it 
may, perhaps, be well to glance for a moment at the description of the rocks of 
the Sind valley given by Dr. Stoliczka at page 349 of his “ Observations in 
Western Tibet.” In justice to the memory of such an authority, it must, 
however, be observed, that his notices of these rocks were made on the evidence 
of a single hurried section, on his return from an arduous journey in Tibet; 
while my own observations are the result of a far wider survey. It is not, there- 
