RECORDS 
OF THE 
GEOLOGICAL SU1IYEY OE INDIA. 
Part 4.] 1875. [November. 
]SiOTE on the Geology of Nepal,* by H. B. Medlicott, m. a., f. g. s., Deputy Superin¬ 
tendent, Geological Survey of India. 
Through the kindness of Mr. Girdlestone, the Resident of 1 epal, I had an opportunity 
in May last of visiting that very secluded country. It will surprise many to hear that 
although the marches of Nepal run for more than 500 miles along some of the most 
fertile and populous districts of British India, that country is still rigorously tabooed to all 
outsiders, Englishmen included. With the exception of the track to Katmandu, no part of 
that extensive area has been traversed by civilized man. Even the route to the capital is 
only open to political envoys, and by special favor to invited guests ; and any digression from 
the actual road-way is suspiciously watched. The permitted range of exploration from 
Katmandu is correspondingly restricted: one may go as far as the Trisal-ganga, on the north¬ 
west, about sixteen miles (direct), and to about an equal distance on the south-east, in both 
cases a short way beyond the precincts of the actual valley. The following observations are 
therefore most scanty, there being no opportunity to followup and examine features of special 
importance in tbe general section. They may, however, have some interest as a term of 
comparison between the known ground on yie east and on the west, about midway between 
which this section occurs. 
It is necessary briefly to state what the features are with which this comparison is to 
be made. From the Sutlej to the westSrn frontier of Nepal there is continuously traceable 
along the margin of the mountains a zone of variable width formed of slates and thin 
silicious beds surmounted by sandstone and strong limestone. The latter have been described 
as the Krol group ; the lower horizons being distinguished as infra-Krol, Bliui (a thin lime¬ 
stone) and infra-Blini. They usually form a broad, crushed synclinal ridge at the edge of 
the mountain-area, as at Mussooree and Naini Tal. In the Simla region they extend far 
beyond this ridge into the interior of the mountains, where they become obscured by meta- 
morphism, their relation to the gneiss rocks not being as yet satisfactorily determined. In 
Kumaon, at least north of Naini Tal, there is an abrupt change, along a line of trappean 
intrusion, between the range of semi-metamorphic strata and the gneiss rocks to the north. 
It has been conjectured that the Krol limestone is triassic, and the underlying groups palaeo¬ 
zoic. 
Within the territories the name Nepal is only applied to the valley of Katmandu, 
