17^ Becords of the Geological Survey of India. [voL. xm. 
It lies ill tlie direct course of -what in the rains must be a considerable riyer, and 
tbougb tbe sides of the valley are steep, they do not so materially differ in this or 
any other respect from other gorges in the hills as to afford an adequate explana¬ 
tion why a ‘ slip ’ from them of loose materials should produce a result which we 
cannot trace elsewhere where similar physical features prevail. I have already 
dwelt on the point that banks of shingle (and fallen detritus from the sides of 
the valley would share the same fate) do not in Himalayan streams, be they large 
or small, give rise to permanent lakes, and it is therefore difficult to understand 
how Malwa Tal comes to occupy the position it does, save on the supposition that 
it lies in a basin cut out of the rock by a glacier. On the descent to Malwa Tal 
by the road from Bhim Tal some very hai’d and massive trap is seen, and it 
ap 2 )ears as though a band of this rock crosses the valley just below the lake. If 
this supposition is cori’ect, and if a glacier ever did descend the valley, the natural 
result would be the formation of a rock basin in the position now occupied by 
the lake, owing to the more energetic excavation effected by the glacier in the 
comparatively softer rocks above than on the hard band of rocks which may be 
considered as forming the lake siU at its point of discharge. It is true Mr. Ball 
declares no rock in situ is there visible, but Avithout admitting that this fact has 
been satisfactoi-ily established, or can be by a mere superficial examination, I 
would suggest that, considering the steepness of the sides of the valley, we may 
not unnaturally expect to find the bottom covered with a considerable amount 
of loose debris, quite sufficient to conceal any exposure of rock at the surface. 
From different aspects, therefore, do the three chief lakes of Kumaun—Malwa 
Tal on the one hand and Naini Tal and Bhim Tal on the other—give strong 
countenance to the idea that they one and all originate from glacial agency. 
Khurpa Tal. 
This lake, which every traveller to Naini Tal from Kaladungi must have 
remarked after turning the corner of the spur which descends from Deoputhar 
peak, is a little cocked-hat sort of depression, immediately beloAv the road, encir¬ 
cled by rather steep sides, and Avith no visible outlet. Its natural outlet should 
bo at its northeiTi end, and percolation through a barrier of loose stony materials 
in that quarter no doubt suffices to carry off its surplus waters. But what is the 
nature of this barrier ? The choice aA'OAvedly lies between Mr. Ball’s theory of 
lake formation in these hills by “landslips” and mine by “moraines.” It is to 
be regretted that Mr. Ball does not seem to have examined this lake, since it is 
one Avhich, in my opinion, places the “ landslip ” theory entirely ‘ out of court.’ In 
tho case of Khurpa Tsl the only direction whence the materials of the barrier 
almost encircling it could have been derived by a slip is from tho abrupt flanks of 
the Deoputhar spur to the north-Avest. But the lake itself nestles at the foot of tho 
spur and occupies the position of the hypotenuse of the slope which such a fall of 
materials would have created, and I need hai*dly point out, that no forces of nature 
coAild create a lake in such a position, that is, on the slope or hypotenuse of a mass 
of fallen rock. Rcgai’ding the ‘barrier,’ however, as a ‘moraine,’ no difficulty is 
