214 THE STORY OF THE MOUNTAINS

been joined by sea with America was now joined by land with Africa. Such are the mighty move- ments of this seemingly immovable earth.

But it was only for a brief space that Kashmir was visible. Then once again, in mid-Carboniferous times, it subsided beneath the sea, there to remain® for some millions of years till the early Tertiary period, four million years ago, when it again emerged, and the sea was gradually pushed back from Tibet and the adjacent Himataya, till by the end of the Eocene period both Tibet and the whole Himalaya had finally become dry land. Kashmir was now a portion of the continental area and the culminating effort of the earth forces was at hand. For yet another period of great volcanic activity ensued, connected, perhaps, with the crustal dis- turbances to which the origin of the Himalaya is attributed. Masses of molten granite were extruded from beneath the earth’s surface through the sedi- mentary deposit. And these granitic masses, issuing from the fiery interior of the earth, push- ing ever upward, reached and passed the level of eternal snow till they finally settled into the line of matchless peaks now known as the Himalaya.

This then, briefly, is a record of the successive