1865.] OBITUARY — DR. FALCONER. 139 



extent in any other region then known. The Sewalik explorations 

 soon attracted notice in Europe, and in 1837 the Wollaston medal 

 in duplicate was awarded for their discoveries to Dr. Falconer and 

 Capt. Cautley, by the Geological Society, the fountain of geological 

 honors in England. 



Concurrently with these researches, Dr. Falconer's official duties 

 as superintendent of the Suharunpore Botanic Garden led him to 

 explorations in the snowy range of the neighboring Himalayas. 

 In 1834, a commission was appointed by the Bengal government 

 to inquire into and report on the fitness of India for the growth of 

 the tea plant of China. Acting on the information and advice 

 supplied by Dr. Falconer, the commission recommended a trial. 

 The government adopted the recommendation ; the plants were 

 imported from China, and the experimental nurseries were placed 

 under Falconer's superintendence in sites selected by him. Tea- 

 culture has since been greatly extended in the north-west. 



In 1837 Dr. Falconer was ordered to accompany Burnes's 

 second mission to Caubul, which preceded the Affghan war. 

 United at Peshawur, the party consisted of Burnes, Mackeson, 

 Leech, Lord, Wood, and Falconer. Of these six officers, the sole 

 survivor now is Wood, the explorer of the Oxus. Dr. Falconer 

 first proceeded westward to Kohat, and the lower part of the valley 

 of Bunguish, in order to examine the Trans-Indus portion of the 

 Salt range; and then, in company with Lieut. Mackeson, made 

 for Cashmeer, where he passed the winter and spring, examining 

 the natural history of the valley. The following summer (1838) 

 he crossed the mountains to Iskardo, in Bulkistan, and, by the aid 

 of Rajah Ahmed Shah, traced the Shiggar branch of the Indus to 

 its source in the glacier on the southern flank of the Mooztagh 

 range, now ascertained to be 28,200 feet above the level of the sea. 

 Having examined the great glaciers-of Arindoh and of the Brahl- 

 doh valley, he then returned to India, via Cashmeer and the Pun- 

 jab, towards the close of 1838, to resume charge of his duties at 

 Suharunpore. During the whole of this expedition to Cashmeer, 

 Falconer kept copious diaries, which, it is to be hoped, are in 

 a state fit for publication. 



In 1840, his health, shattered by previous attacks of jungle 

 fever, rheumatic fever, dysentery, and disease of the liver, the 

 results of incessant exposure, gave way ; alarming indications of 

 constitutional break up set in ; and in 1842 he was compelled to 

 seek for a chance of recovery by sick leave to Europe, bringing 



