63 
PAIIT ].] McMahon ; Notes of a tour through Jlangrnng and Spit/. 
brown), being tbe beds of the Bhabeh series described by Dr. Stoliczka at p. 19, 
vol. V, Memoirs. 
These rocks at first dip north-west, but eventually round to west-by-north ; 
the change being marked by a great contortion amongst the upper rocks on the 
left bank of the Spiti. The silky slates are succeeded by rocks higher in the 
series; those described at p. 20 of Dr. Stoliczka’s Memoir, beds of light 
colored quartzites and quartzite sandstones intercalated with dark slates that 
splinter into small thin slices. The debris of these slates imparts a very dark 
tint to the mountain sides, especially when seen from a distance, but whenever T 
tested them I found that they had a pale grey streak. 
These beds on the Spiti river, between Hnling and Po, have the same coloring 
in the accompanying map as the slates south of Leo and of the Kanzam pass ; 
but in both of these latter regions they more closely resemble the slate series of 
the Simla area; and I was unable to decide from the cursory survey of tlie rock.s 
along the route I followed, whether the difference in the character of the beds is 
due to alteration in their lateral extension, or whether they occupy a different 
horizon in the palaeozoic series. From Dr. Stoliczka’s remarks at page 21 of hi.s 
Memoir, he would appear to have held the former view, and I think it is probably 
the right one, but the point can only be satisfactorily determined by the survey 
of a wider area than I had an opportunity of visiting. 
Near Lari the strata become vertical for a .short distance, and here I observed 
a thick bod of the contemporary greenstone described by Dr. Stoliczka as occur¬ 
ring in the palaeozoic formation of Spiti (Memoirs, vol. V, p. 20). For some 
distance beyond Lari, angular blocks of this rock on the road side attested its 
presence in the cliffs above, but if it again dip down to the level of the road.s, 
the outcrop must be buried under talus, as I did not see the rock in situ again. 
From Lari onwards I did not observe any material change in the character of 
the rocks until nearing the point where the river Spiti takes a sudden north-west 
turn near Mani.' Here the strata suddenly dipping down to the river and rising 
on the opposite side form a sharp synclinal, along the axis of which the Spiti 
river runs for many miles. To the south-east the synclinal can be seen dying out 
among the peaks overhanging the Manirang pass, whilst to the north-west it may 
be traced for about ten miles beyond Dhankar, the bottom of it rising higher and 
higher and fading away in the mountains on the right bank of the Spiti. 
This sharp bend in the strata brings down the upper rock.s, and amongst them 
I observed a conglomerate, in a cliff overhanging tbe road on the left bank. 
There is about 40 feet of it. The matrix is a brown slaty rock ; and it contains 
numerous pebbles of white, grey and reddish quartzite of iiregular, rounded and 
subangular shapes. The largest I saw was about 4 inches in diameter. 
This rock resembles the Blaini conglomerate of the Simla area. On the con¬ 
glomerate rests a limestone containing numerous fossils, but in such bad preserva¬ 
tion that none have been clearly identified. This was followed in the ascending 
^ Mani is ou the right hank helow Dhankar. 
