Henry S. Howorth — Elevation of Eastern Asia. 161 



have subsisted it " In the case of the Ehinoceros the incisor 



teeth are deficient in number, and the greater portion of them rudi- 

 mentary in form, and even deciduous. It may, therefore, be very 

 safely predicated of all the species, fossil or existing, that they could 

 never subsist by browsing on a herbaceous vegetation ; they want 

 the nippers which enable the Horse and Ruminants to subsist on low 

 grass ; and their food must either be derived from large reeds, 

 shrubs or trees, none of which are now found in Tibet " (Memoirs 

 voL i. p. 180). 



Again, speaking of Lyell's theory about the possible transportation 

 of the Siberian Ehinoceros, Dr. Falconer says, " But these conditions 

 will not apply to the Hioondes ; the Rhinoceros could neither have 

 migrated to its mountain-locked plain, from the side of Hindostan 

 by the passes where men and goats can hardly find their way save 

 by the artificial aid of scaffoldings, nor is it apparent how they could 

 have been transported to their present resting-place from a higher 

 tract" (Mems. p. 180). He then goes on to postulate an upheaval 

 on a huge scale of the whole Himalayan range since the Rhinoceros 

 M'^as living there. 



In support of Dr. Falconer's view about the impossibility of a 

 large herbivorous fauna having lived in these high valleys under 

 present conditions, I should like to quote Mr. Drew, who was very 

 familiar with the plateaux of Ladakh. He says, " Vegetation exists 

 but here and there ; generally every ten or fifteen miles is to be 

 found some burtse or Eurotia, the plant that serves for fuel, although 

 at one halting-place moss is obtained in its stead, and at another 

 neither burtse nor moss can be got. Pasture is still rarer ; on leaving 

 the last halting-place in the Chonglung branch of the Changchenmo 

 valley, we had to pass over 60 or 70 miles before reaching any grass ; 

 the first find was at Lokzhung, a halting-place in the middle of the 

 mountains of the same name. On the Kuenlun plains grass is 

 equally scarce. . . Of wild animals one would think from the foot- 

 prints that great numbers must live in the plains and the surrounding 

 mountains ; but one sees few, and on reflection it appears that the 

 many footprints are the work of a comparatively small number of 

 individuals, for in this country a mark may stay unobliterated for 

 years" (Jummoo and Kashmir Territories, p. 352). 



Recently (Records Geol. Survey of India, vol. xiv. part 2), Mr. 

 Lydekker has discussed these remains, and arrived at a different 

 conclusion to Dr. Falconer ; but I confess I cannot follow his 

 reasoning. He once deemed them to be of Siwalik and not of 

 Pleistocene age. He now admits they are of the latter period, Mr. 

 Griesbach having found the beds from which they came, and found 

 them lying horizontally upon highly-tilted Tertiaries, which are 

 presumed, says Mr. Lydekker, to correspond with some members of 

 the Siwalik series of the outer hills. 



Their age being unquestioned, Mr. Lydekker objects to the beds 

 having been raised since they were deposited to the extent of 15,000 

 feet, because they are horizontal. A few paragraphs further on he 

 allows that he would not have been surprised if the elevation had 



DECADE III. -VOL. VIII. NO. IV. 11 



