Himalayan Journals — Volume 2 by J. D. (Joseph Dalton) Hooker
page 300 of 625 (48%)
page 300 of 625 (48%)
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Lailang-kot is another village full of iron forges, from a height near which a splendid view is obtained over the Churra flat. A few old and very stunted shrubs of laurel and _Symplocos_ grow on its bleak surface, and these are often sunk from one to three feet in a well in the horizontally stratified sandstone. I could only account for this by supposing it to arise from the drip from the trees, and if so, it is a wonderful instance of the wearing effects of water, and of the great age which small bushes sometimes attain. The vegetation is more alpine at Kala-panee (elevation, 5,300 feet); _Benthamia, Kadsura, Stauntonia, Illicium, Actinidia, Helwingia, Corylopsis,_ and berberry--all Japan and Chinese, and most of them Dorjiling genera--appear here, with the English yew, two rhododendrons, and _Bucklandia._ There are no large trees, but a bright green jungle of small ones and bushes, many of which are very rare and curious. _Luculia Pinceana_ makes a gorgeous show here in October. The sandstone to the east of Kala-panee is capped by some beds, forty feet thick, of conglomerate worn into cliffs; these are the remains of a very extensive horizontally stratified formation, now all but entirely denuded. In the valley itself, the sandstone alternates with alum shales, which rest on a bed of quartz conglomerate, and the latter on black greenstone. In the bed of the river, whose waters are beautifully clear, are hornstone rocks, dipping north-east, and striking north-west. Beyond the Kalapanee the road ascends about 600 feet, and is well quarried in hard greenstone; and passing through a narrow gap of conglomerate rock,* [Formed of rolled masses of greenstone and sandstone, united by a white and yellow cement.] |
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