GEOGNOSY OF MIDDLE INDIA. 239 



throughout the Himmalehs. The most curious statement 

 in regard to them is one made by Gerrard, who tells us that 

 he met with fossil shells in alluvium at a great heicrht amoncr 

 the mountains, as fresh and entire as if they had recently 

 emerged from their own element ; and that just before 

 crossing the boundary of Ladak and Bussahir he was much 

 gratified by the discovery of a bed of antediluvian oysters 

 clinging to the rock as if they had been alive, and this at 

 16,000 feet above the sea. The verification of this obser- 

 vation is expected. 



II. MIDDLE INDIA. 



In this vast tract the country forms an inclined plane, of 

 •which the great declivity sinks gradually towards the mouth 

 of the Ganges, while the other inclines towards the Indus. 

 It is almost entirely composed of alluvial clays, loams, 

 sands, and gravels, with occasional intermixtures of calca- 

 reous concretions named kunhir, fossil woods, and animal 

 remains. The most remarkable deposite of the latter 

 was discovered near Pinjore, north latitude 30° 47', east 

 longitude 76° 54', during the digging of a canal between. 

 two rivers, by the Sultan Ferose III. It was obser\^ed on 

 cutting through a hill, in which bones of elephants and men 

 were found. The bones of the forearm measured 3 gez, 

 or 5 feet 2 inches in length ; hence it is evident that none 

 of them were human, but belonged to large Pachydermata ; 

 but whether elephant or mastodon is not so apparent. The 

 few fixed rocks that occur during the course of the Ganges 

 are to be viewed as prolongations of the primitive and sec- 

 ondary rocks of the peninsular part of India. We ma)', 

 however, include in this division of India the coal-field of 

 the Damoda. This deposite of coal, which occupies both 

 sides of the river, has been traced southward to within a 

 few miles of Raghunathpur, reposing on granite and sye- 

 nite ; and about forty miles north-by-east from that place 

 we come to the first colliery ever opened in India. The 

 late Mr. Jones, who had the merit of commencing these 

 works in 1815, describes this as the north-west coal district 

 of Bengal ; he states that he observed the line of bearing for 

 sixty-five miles in one direction, its breadth towards Bun- 

 cora (on the south-west side) being not more than eleven or 

 twelve miles from the river; and he conjectures, although 



