18 
SECOND YABKAND MISSION. 
recent-looking sandstones and conglomerates, dipping at an angle of about 45° to north by 
east, and at the foot of these beds rise the hot springs 1 of Kium. I think it probable that 
this conglomerate has eastward a connection with the eocene deposits, which occur at the 
western end of the Pankong lake 2 and in the Indus yalley south of it. 
In the previous notes I have scarcely alluded to the dip of the rocks at the different 
localities. The reason is, that there is, indeed, very great difficulty in directly observing both 
the dip and the strike. At the western end of the Pankong lake the dip of the metamorphic 
schists is mostly south-westerly, but further on nearly all the rocks dip at a moderate 
angle to north-east, north by east, or to north. On the Lingzi-thung, just after crossing 
the Chang-lung, the shales are mostly highly inclined, but further on the limestones lie 
unconformably on thorn and dip to north-east. Wherever the hills consist merely of shales 
and slates, their sides are generally so thickly covered with debris and detritus, that it 
becomes almost an exception to observe a rock in situ. 
The debris is brought down in large quantities by the melting snow into the valleys, 
and high banks of it are everywhere observable along the water-courses. At a somewhat 
remote—say diluvial—period this state of things has operated on a far greater scale. Not 
only were the lakes, like the Pankong, much more extensive, but valleys, like the Chang- 
chenmo, or the Tankse valley, sometimes became temporarily blocked up by glaciers, or 
great landslips, and the shingle and clay deposits were often accumulated in them to a 
thickness of two or more hundred feet. Near Aktagh similar deposits of stratified clay exist 
of about 160 feet in thickness, and extend over an area of more than 100 square miles. 3 
There can be but little doubt that when these large sheets of water were in existence, the 
climate of these now cold and arid regions was both milder and moister, and naturally more 
favourable to animal and vegetable life than it is now. A proof of this is given, for instance, 
by the occurrence of subfossil Succinece , Helices , and Fupce in the clay deposits of the 
Pankong lake, while scarcely any land mollusk could exist at the present time in the same 
place. 
Note regarding the occurrence of jade in the Karabash valley on the southern borders of 
Turkistan. 
[Prom Records of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. VII, p. 51; and Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc., 1873, XXX, p. 568.] 
The portion of the Kuenluen range which extends from Shah-i-dula eastward towards 
Khotan appears to consist entirely of gneiss, syenitic gneiss, and metamorphic rocks, these 
being quartzose, micaceous, or hornblendic schists. On the southern declivity of this range, 
which runs along the right bank of the Karakash river, are situated the old jade mines, or 
rather quarries, formerly worked by the Chinese. They are about 7 miles distant from 
the Kirghiz encampment Palakchi, which itself is about 12 miles south-east of Shah-i- 
dula. I had the pleasure of visiting the mines in company with Dr. Bellew and Captain 
Biddulph, with a Yarkandi official as ourguide. 
1 The temperature of these hot springs varies from 60° to 125°. They form no deposit of gypsum, like the springs north of 
Gogra, hut there is a good deal of soda deposit round them. (S). 
2 I can find no mention of any eocene deposits at the western end of the Pankong lake in the diary. Some deposits are noticed 
which contain fresh-water shales, but are evidently much more recent. Some recent-looking yellow conglomerate or coarse sandstone 
is mentioned in the Eimdi valley, north of the Pankong lake. There may he some mistake in the wording of the text here, due to 
its having been printed in Dr. Stoliczka’s absence. 
3 For a description of the alluvial deposits of Ladak and the Upper Indus basin, see Drew, Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc., 1878, XXIX, 
p. 441. 
