380 Mr. H. T. Coledrooke's Remarls on ttie Setlej River. 



likely to have been elsewhere picked up from a religious motive, and acci- 

 dentally dropped on the spot where they were now found, which was in a 

 region of limestone. Ammonites have been found at a like elevation in 

 the beds of torrents near the Nili and Mdnd passes. 



A further advance into Chinese Tartary would probably have ascertained 

 tiie site of these and perhaps of other organic remains ; but the travellers 

 were repelled by a guard stationed on the frontier. In two other quarters 

 they met with a similar repulse, from Tartar guards, posted on the frontiers 

 of Chinese Tartary. 



I cannot quit the subject without inviting the Society to applaud the 

 persevering exertions of these intrepid travellers in their arduous enterprise. 

 Capt. Gerard and his brother have been neither appalled by danger nor 

 deterred by fatigue ; and to the official duties of the survey on which they 

 were employed, else sufficiently laborious, they have superadded a most 

 laudable zeal for the advancement of science in every way for which an 

 opportunity was presented to them, and have evinced exemplary diligence 

 in the prosecution of researches. 



I may here be allowed to express regret, that the valley of the Gandhac 

 river is yet unexplored. It is in that valley that ammonites are known to 

 abound, and other ancient remains may be looked for. It is probably the 

 route by which the D/iaxcalagiri, or White Mountain of the Himdlaya, may 

 be approached, and the altitude of apparently the highest mountain, defini- 

 tively determined. I still entertain the expectation, grounded on measure- 

 ments taken from remote stations, that its height will be found to be not less 

 than 27,000 feet above the level of the sea. 



I have much to observe on the geological notices scattered in Capt. Ge- 

 rard's diary, and sparingly quoted in the foregoing summary ; but I reserve 

 what is to be said on this topic, and on the copious collection of specimens 

 received from him, for a communication to the Geological Society. 



