154 



some length of time to the action of the sea previously to 

 being imbedded in the deposits in which we now find 

 them ; for I have specimens of fossilized Avood which 

 bear marks of most extensive ravages committed upon it 

 by the destructive sea-worm teredo. 



The indistinctness which is so characteristic of fossils 

 from that locality, may not be entirely OAving, then, to 

 the operation of modern causes. 



It was on the 18th of March last year, that, in com- 

 pany Avith my cousin, Mr. James Fleming, of Bombay, I 

 visited the little island of Perim. We had been travel- 

 ling previously through parts of the Deccan, Kaudeish, 

 Malwa, and Guzerat, and noAv having come into Kattia- 

 Avai', as far as Gogo, AA'-e determined not to leaA^e the 

 district Avithout seeing Perim, as we kncAv that very inte- 

 resting fossils Avere to be found there. The thought of 

 fossilij-erous tertiaries Avas most refreshing. I felt Avell 

 nigh sick of trap rocks, for Ave had hitherto seen hardly 

 any other formation throughout the Avhole of our journey. 



Embarking in one of the Bunderboats of the country, 

 Ave set off in the morning, and Avith the SAviftly running 

 current in our favour, Avere carried along at a veiy fair 

 rate. The tides, as I have before remarked, are ex- 

 tremely strong in the Gulf of Cambay, and that peculiar 

 Avave called the " Bore," is of constant occurrence. At 

 the time of spring tides it rushes up the gulf Avith terrific 

 Anolence, carrying vessels and everything before it. A 

 boat happening to stick fast on a mud or sand-bank, is 

 certain, on the return of the flood-tide, to be upset. This 

 phenomenon is A'-ery common in the Ganges, where it 

 almost equals in force that of the Gulf of Cambay. " In 

 the Hoogly or Calcutta river," says Rennell,* " the 

 ' bore ' commences at Hoogly Point, the place where the 



* "Philosophical Transactions," 1781. 



