332 PICTURESQUE SKETCHES 



satisfactory evidence on the subject of its ancient 

 inhabitants, are first, the entire chain of the sub- 

 Himalayas, or Sewalik hills ; next the western coast 

 of India, especially near the Gulf of Cambay ; and, 

 thirdly, the mouth of the great Irawaddi river, in the 

 peninsula of Siara. These spots are widely distant, 

 but the remains found in each have proved to belong 

 to nearly or absolutely identical species. They are 

 now at very different elevations, the difference amount- 

 ing to many thousand feet, but they were no doubt form- 

 ed contemporaneously, and at the same level. These 

 beds are present under different circumstances, the ma- 

 terial in which they are imbedded varying exceedingly ; 

 but they are essentially the same, and appear to have 

 been deposited in a vast inland lake of fresh water, 

 near whose banks there were forests, and in whose 

 waters were present numerous fresh-water fishes. 



The remains thus brought to light in the hard 

 sandstone of the Sewalik hills, or in the conglomerate 

 on the shores of the Gulf of Cambay, include a vast 

 number of species, and must have been the result of 

 accumulations made during a very long period, ex- 

 tending over as much of the tertiary epoch as is com- 

 prehended in the middle and newer divisions of other 

 countries. They represent the inhabitants of the 

 land during this period, and probably include nearly 

 the whole series, since we find amongst them monkeys, 

 numerous carnivorous animals, rodents or gnawing ani- 

 mals, Insectivora or insect-eating animals, and a most 

 remarkable and unusual proportion of pachyderms, 

 the prototypes of the numerous elephants, rhinoce- 

 roses, hippopotamuses, horses, &c., whose remains are 

 found in various parts of the northern hemisphere. 



