336 Journal of Travel and N'atiiral History 



twists, faults, and contortions, point out that the cause was the 

 exertion of subterranean force, and as the rocks abut against the 

 Himmalayahs it would seem highly probable that the latter have 

 been bodily lifted to that height since the Siwalik animals were 

 buried in 2000 feet of rock. To suppose that a thin strip of 

 country at their base could be elevated without their participa- 

 tion in the movement would be contrary to all analogy. 



Dr Falconer cites additional testimony from another quarter 

 to the truth of this inference. The remains of rhinoceros 

 have been found in the Hioondes Steppe, in Central Thibet, 

 15,000 feet above the sea level, on the north side of the 

 Himmalayahs. The tract is a dreary plain, shrubless, treeless, and 

 houseless, supporting a few furze bushes and a sprinkling of the 

 most arctic vegetation ; the climate is one of polar severity. It is 

 certain, he acutely argues, that no rhinoceros of the present day 

 could endure such conditions of life as would result from the 

 present climate, and that even were it fitted to endure the severity 

 of the weather, it could not live on the short grass growing at that 

 altitude, because the incisive teeth, or nippers, are so defective as 

 to prevent it browsing in the same way as the horse, sheep, or ox. 



" The Siberian rhinoceros' remains are found on the shores of the frozen 

 ocean, under conditions of climate more severe than those of Thibet ; and it 

 has been sliewn by Lyell how these remains miglit have found their way, by 

 changes in the physical geography of Siberia, by transportation on ice-blocks, 

 and by periodical migrations. But these conditions will not apply to the 

 Hioondes ; the rhinoceros could neither have migrated to its mountain-locked 

 plain, from the side of Hindostan, by the passes where men and goats can 

 scarcely find their way, save by the artificial aid of scaffoldings, nor is it apparent 

 how the bones could have been transported to their present resting-place from 

 a higher tract. 



"The only explanation of the case that suggests itself, which appears ad- 

 missible, is a depression of the plain of the Hioondes to a much lower level, 

 and to clothe it in a vegetation resembling that of India now, which on the 

 supposition that the rhinoceros was not a migratory visitor, but a permanent 

 resident of Thibet, and clothed in a warm fur, is perhaps the utmost limit that 

 could be conceded for its habitat. The plain of the Hioondes would require to 

 have been not higher than 7000 or Sooo feet above the level of the sea. The 

 mean level of the Hioondes, which is known at Dhapa to be i5iOCX3 feet, and 

 estimated to be not much less than 17,000 feet near Manasarovara, maybe 

 considered as 16,000 feet. To reduce it, therefore, to the circumstances above 

 inferred, would involve the consequence that the northern face of the Himma- 

 layahs, anil (as elevating movements are nowhere l;nii\\n to be cunfnicd to 

 narrow belts) prijbajjly a considerable portion of the chain itself, have been 

 elevated 7000 to 8000 feet since the tract was tenanted by a species of 

 rhinoceros." — (P. 180.) 



