168 RESEARCH IN CHINA. 
East of the road, in the central portion of the province, rises the pre- 
cipitous range called the Ho-shan. Its lower slopes, and in places the 
entire mass, appear from a distance of 10 miles, 16 kilometers, to be com- 
posed of dark metamorphic rocks, highly inclined but without notable 
differences in hardness. Near the base of the mountain one sees limited 
exposures which are much lighter in color; it is probable that these are 
outcrops of the basal complex. As a check on these distant observations, 
we have the material brought down by the streams which rise on the slopes 
of the Ho-shan. ‘The tributary which enters the Fén-ho at Ling-shi-hién 
brings down pebbles of quartzite, hard gray limestone, and gray gneiss 
and pink granite in subordinate amounts. ‘The next stream of importance 
to the southward, near Y6n-yi-ssi, furnishes quartzite and limestone, but 
apparently not the gneiss and granite. Another stream, which rises near 
the south end of the range and passes by Chau-chéng-hién, carries gneiss, 
granite, diorite, a large amount of quartzite, and a little gray limestone. The 
existence, in the Ho-shan, of the basal igneous complex and one or more of 
the metamorphic sedimentary systems is thus indicated. The gray lime- 
stones, as will be mentioned later, probably belong to the Sinian system. 
Northeast of Kiang-chéu a short range of mountains rises through 
the prevailing Huang-t’u. Stratified rocks appear on its northern side, 
dipping northward, a rounded cliffless exposure indicating rocks of nearly 
uniform resistance to weathering. Beneath them, and forming the larger 
portion of the mountain, are massive light-colored rocks which are prob- 
ably part of the basal complex. The aspect of the sedimentary rocks 
just mentioned agrees most closely with the limestones of the Hu-t’o 
system near Wu-t’ai-hién. 
A few miles to the southeast of Kiang-chéu a low rounded spur extends 
westward almost to the main road. The topography suggests folded 
limestones or quartzites associated with softer massive rocks. ‘This sug- 
gestion is partially substantiated by the material found in the bed of a 
ravine which heads in the edge of this spur; the pebbles consist of granite, 
diorite, and a large amount of quartzite. In this instance limestone seems 
to be altogether absent. 
From the great range of the Fong-huang-shan, in the extreme southern 
part of the province of Shan-si, von Richthofen reports gneiss and crystal- 
line schists overlain by reddish quartz-sandstone.* We did not make an 
examination of the mountain, and it was even hidden from our view by 
clouds much of the time while we were passing; but what we saw of its 
topography showed that the mountain was principally made up of massive 
rocks, in which no definite structure was visible at a distance. At the 
*China, vol. 1, page 450. 
