300 Jourjial of Travel and Natural History 



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 hanging 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 bmtes 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 growling 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 back- 

 ward, in order that it may fall into the throat. 



" A few were observed to bolt their portion on shore after very 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 frequently 

 devour the young soon after they are hatched. Crocodiles wallowing in the 

 mud of the Nile, or gavials 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 

 way inland to this solitary 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 interesting and important question is not, indeed, 

 that put 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 have 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 Cautley have abundantly 

 proved that the elevation of the Sevalik, or outer range of the 

 Himmalayahs, took place almost, if not absolutely, within the himian 

 era ; and it is, doubtless, to the influence wliich ui)heaved 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 



