GEOLOGY. 
39 
river. They are generally seen at the turns of the river, and can he traced all the way down, 
hut are nowhere more extensive. Before the river cut its present deep hed, its course was 
prohahly often interrupted, and small lakes formed, or, at least, its course was retarded, so as to 
form these deposits. 
April 9th, 10th, and 11th, Sarhada to Patir, halting at Patuchand Yiir. —Three marches 
of 44, 15, and 12 miles. Black slates alone were seen till 9 miles heyond Patuch, thence 
gneiss (fine-grained) and metamorphic rocks for the remainder of the way. The gneiss is 
sandy, and disintegrates easily. 
April 12th and 13th, Patir to Panjah, or Kila Panj, halting at Zang; 20 miles from the 
former, only 3 from the latter. 
[No special description of the geology is given. The beds seen were prohahly all metamor¬ 
phic, the same as before. A hot spring opposite Patir is said to rise in black metamorphic slates.] 
All the hills at Panjah consist of a metamorphic quartzose schist, which composes the 
hills on the left hank of the valley. The rocks dip to south or south by east into the valley: 
a few miles west they are overlain by dark hornhlendic schist. 
[After a halt of 12 days in Panjah, the party marched hack to Kashghar territory by the 
Great Pamir, re-entering their former line of march at Kanshubar, east of Aktash.] 
April 26th and 27th, Panjah to Langerkisli, 6 miles only. —Visited the hot spring near 
Zang: the water is 120°. The rocks are quartz, hornhlendic, and mica schist, with garnets, 
dipping to the south-east. 
April 27th, Yumkhana, 16 miles _Old clay deposits reach to about 2,000 feet above the 
present level of the river. The metamorphic schists are very variable, but highly micaceous 
throughout (containing biotite); they still dip to the south-east, and include beds of white 
marble. On the left bank of the river they seem to dip under the gneiss, which is not dis¬ 
tinctly stratified. 
April 28th, Yolmazdr, 12 miles. —Bocks same as before—all fine-grained gneiss, with 
biotite,—very much resembling the Himalayan central gneiss, with biotite mica, traversed mostly 
by thin veins of albite granite, with muscovite. It really seems that this is the continuation of 
the central gneiss, in which the Spiti and Zaskar secondary rocks may form a bay, extending 
from south-east towards north-west. About Dras the secondary rocks go over a saddle into 
Kashmir, but the gneiss continues northward. Hornhlendic beds often occur in the gneiss; they 
consist of dark, rather homogeneous rocks, which include hornblende and staurolite crystals. 
April 29th to May 1st, Yolmazdr to Lake Victoria ( Wood's Lake) _Three marches, alto¬ 
gether about 37 miles. 
[Rocks throughout described as gneiss; that on the first march described as containing a 
little green mica or chlorite; on the second but little rock was seen in place, the valley being 
largely occupied by beds of pebbles and boulders, which form terraces along the sides, whilst the 
hills were covered with snow. The gneiss seen was “ remarkably altered, craggy, conglomeratic, 
split in all directions, and as if it had been burnt,” but no trace of an eruptive rock was seen.] 
The shingle boulders were mostly rounded; some of very large size only slightly so, and 
mixed with sand. The whole mass must have been accumulated more by the agency of snow 
and ice than running water. 
[The hills around the lake are described as entirely of gneiss, and rather sharply pointed.] 
The lake is about two miles in width, and surrounded by terraces of rounded worn, boulders, mixed 
with sand. These terraces rise to at least 100 feet above the lake, and show that the lake was 
formerly much more extensive than it now is. [The details will be found in the diary.] 
