TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 585 
above formation. All the evidence is in favour of the axis line of depression in the 
Ganges delta between Rajmahal and the Garo Hills extending thus far, and that 
the miocene beds, once continuous, are here thus lost to sight beneath the more 
recent yet extensive gravels and conglomerates that here occur, and have par- 
taken also of a last slight elevation of the mountain chain. 
Even if we were to raise the rocks below the delta up to the maximum level 
of the Garo Hills, about 4,000 feet, it would not be a greater alteration of level than 
We can see now a very few miles distant to the east. The base of the cretaceous 
formation rests on granite at the peak of Kailas, about 3,000 feet above the sea ; at 
thirty miles eastward it is at the level of the plains of Sylhet, scarcely removed 
above that level; it is here we find a remarkable depression right across the Assam 
range trom north to south, which it is curious to note faces immediately the Monass 
valley of the Bhutan Himalaya. 
Great lateral rolls or waves of the stratified rocks occur at intervals all along the 
southern line of the chain, and apparently have a connection with the transverse 
drainage lines. This feature is best seen if we follow the older miocene along its 
junction with the older rocks. The miocene attains its greatest elevation at Bisari 
and Keeran Peaks—11,200 feet—close to the end of the Pir Panjal axis; it falls 
thence towards Mari to 7,000 feet, and much lower towards the Potwar. Eastwards 
it is reduced, above Poonch, to 9,900 feet ; near Rajaurie to 7,000 feet, and Kamrot 
6,700 feet—or a fall of 4,500 feet in fifty miles, The elevation increases again, 
upon the Chenab, to 8,000 and 9,500 feet; and, facing the Chatadhar ridge, it is 
again of great elevation—9,096 feet at Hato Peak, and Mandhar 8,952 feet. At 
the Ravi, by Basaoli, there is a depression, east of that river, to 4,600 feet, but 
it gradually rises again to 6,100 feet at Dhurumsala, under the Dhaoladhar ridge, 
and retains that altitude to the Beas and Sutlej, where it falls again to 4,000 
feet, which is its altitude about Nahun and the Jumna, Inthe Deyra Dhun it 
is only 3,000 feet, but east of the Ganges, where there is a local bend in the strike, 
it rises again considerably. Beyond this the country has not been visited by me. 
In the eastern area, under Darjiling, it is of little elevation, but rises to about 
4,000 feet, disappearing altogether near Dalingkote, but near Buxa the forma- 
tion reappears, and is only some 2,000 feet. Nothing is known of the older ter- 
tiary rocks up to the Aka and Dafla Hills, but here they attain again large propor- 
tions—4,700 feet west of the Ranga to 6,000 feet beyond that river. South of the 
Assam range, miocene strata, a distinct group, attain 1,500 feet, but are poorly 
represented in places. At other points, as near the Sylhet dbhz/s, they are absent. 
Near Jaintiapur they expand and reach an altitude of 3,000 feet. South of the 
Lukah River the whole mass gradually rises to 5,000 feet near Asalu, and to 
9,890 at Japvo Peak, its culminating point in the Naga Hills; but these formations 
are, I believe, marine and estuarine. The great elevation of tertiary rocks here is 
the exact counterpart of what has taken place on the west, and both are on the 
great changes of strike in all the formations. 
Within the mountains in the old rock basins—and these are analogous to the 
valleys of the Alps—are pliocene and post-pliocene beds of great thickness, but 
of fresh-water origin; the remnants of which are to be seen in Kashmir and 
Scardo at intervals, along the valley of the Indus, and that large—now elevated 
—accumulation at the head of the Sutle}] River in Hundes, first brought to 
notice by the labours of Captain (now General) R. Strachey. The remnants of 
these deposits in Kashmir and Scardo are found preserved in the more sheltered 
portions of the valley basins, untouched by the denuding action during the glacial 
period—the exponents presented to us of the enormous denudation that went on 
during the post-pliocene times, of which the glacial period formed a part. The 
extent and displacement of the upper pliocene beds is in North Italy and here 
very similar. Often abutting horizontally against the mountains, they are in 
other places found tilted at considerable angles on the margin of their original 
extension. When we examine their contents, we find that the fauna of that time 
in Asia, as well as Europe, was more African in character, and genera now confined 
_ to that continent were abundant far to the north. The sluggish rivers and lakes 
_ of Sivalik times in Asia and of the corresponding period in Europe were the home 
