396 



Tiic Count?')' Gentleman's Meigazinc 



(for, I believe, the Fakirs of the temple guard well 

 against such accidents), but from the circumstance 

 that (as is generally the case all over the East) lepers 

 and persons afilicted with loathsome diseases repair to 

 such localities. 



"The crocodiles dig deep in the sand, under the 

 neighbouring date-trees, and there deposit their eggs. 

 Quantities of deciduous teeth of various sizes were 

 strewn along the slimy sides of the pond. 



" Strangers are expected to stand treat, not only by 

 the' Fakirs and natives who gain a livelihood by hang- 

 ing about the pond and shewing the monsters, but 

 even the crocodiles themselves seem to anticipate a 

 feast, and on the arrival of a party, come out in unusual 

 numbers. Accordingly, we had a goat slaughtered, 

 during which operation the brutes seemed to rouse 

 themselves, as if preparing for a rush. Then our 

 guide, taking piece after piece of the flesh, dashed it 

 on the bank, uttering a low gro\\-ling sound, at which 

 the whole tank became in motion, and crocodiles, of 

 whose existence we had been before ignorant, splashed 

 through the shallow water, struggling which should 

 seize the prize. The shore was literally covered with 

 scaly monsters, snapping their jaws at one another. 



" They seize their food with the side of the mouth, 

 and toss the head backward, in order that it may fall 

 into the throat. 



"A few were observed to bolt their portion on 

 shore after ^^ery slight mastication, but the majority, 

 anxious to escape from their greedy companions, made 

 instantly for the water, and disappeared with the 

 piece of flesh sticking between their jaws. Our young 

 Belooch friend informed us that they generally swallow 

 their food at once, and do not, as has been asserted, 

 bury it until it becomes putrid ; also, that other large 

 individuals besides the old king frec[uently devour the 

 young soon after they are hatched. Crocodiles wallow- 

 ing in the mud of the Nile, or ga vials in the Indus, 

 are sights which one is prepared to encounter ; but 

 the traveller may wander far before he meets with a 

 scene so strange and unexpected as that just described. 

 How these animals found their A\'ay inland to this 

 solitaiy oasis we could not discover. It can only be 

 surmised that they had probably been introduced by 

 the natives." — (Pp. 41-45.) 



Noteworthy as are many of the incidental 

 facts above noticed, by far the most interest- 

 ing and important question is not, indeed, 

 that put by Mr Adams at the conclusion of 

 the above paragraph, " How these animals 

 found their way inland to this solitary oasis ? " 

 (for that is assuming a part of the question 

 — that they did find their way inland), but 

 how it happens that these animals are now 

 found there ? The reader sees that there is 

 another way in which this fact may ha\-e come 

 about, than that of the animals having come 



to the oasis ; the oasis may have come to 

 them. There are many facts which prove 

 beyond doubt that at a very recent geo- 

 logical period, the now sandy deserts of the 

 Punjaub and Scinde were covered with water. 

 Falconer and Cautleyhave abundantly proved 

 that the elevation of the Sevalik, or outer 

 range of the Himmalayahs, took place almost, 

 if not absolutely, within the human era ; and it 

 is, doubtless, to the influence which upheaved 

 these mountains that the upraising and laying 

 bare of the bed of this Scindian sea is due. 

 It is more than probable that originally an 

 estuary, or bed of the sea, united the Bay 

 of Bengal with the Indian Ocean. This 

 estuary or sea seems to have been after- 

 wards cut off from the Bay of Bengal by the 

 elevation of the level between the Indus and 

 the Ganges, and divided from the Indian 

 Ocean by the barrier along the coast line. 

 When so circumscribed, Scinde and the Pun- 

 jaub must have been one vast inland fresh 

 water, or brackish lake — doubtless inhabited 

 by abundance of crocodiles. When the 

 continued elevation of the level of the 

 country in the direction of the Himmalayahs 

 tilted up the basin which held the water, and 

 it found its way through the barrier at Kur- 

 rachee, the bed of the lake would gradually 

 become dry, leaving water only in the deeper 

 holes and pools, Avhich would become oases 

 like that of Muggerpeer. In them, of course, 

 the crocodiles and all other aquatic and 

 amphibious life would take refuge ; and it 

 seems more than probable that those which 

 we see there at the present day are the soli- 

 tary remains of multitudes which once 

 crowded the wide shores of that inland sea. 



There can be no objection to this, from 

 any doubt as to the present crocodile hav- 

 ing, perhaps, not been in existence at the 

 period in question. In fact, long anterior to 

 that — viz., at the time when the Sevalik beds 

 themselves were deposited, many animals 

 now living in India had already made 

 their appearance ; and among these, it would 

 really appear that the present crocodile, 

 and, at all events, the gavial, were of the 

 number, both of which noAV occur in these 

 districts. The reptile in the crocodile pond 



