136 



structure of that diversified region. But if we should be disappointed 

 in this wish, to China I trust we may turn with well-founded confi- 

 dence, that so vast a region may not be laid open to British enter- 

 prise without bringing to us some accession of natural knowledge. 

 Already, indeed, we learn that the quays of Nankin are stored with 

 the finest native coal (as if stationed there to supply our invading 

 steam-vessels), whilst from our former casual intercourse with the 

 mouths of the southern rivers, we knew that tertiary deposits oc- 

 cur in their vicinity. We have now to ascertain whether the 

 coal of Nankin is derived from a central ridge in that wide coun- 

 trj^, or whether, through the innumerable canals by which it is 

 intersected, the' mineral is transported from the Pekin or northern 

 coalfield, to which I last year directed your notice. In short, by 

 acquiring (that which (s indispensable for a people like our- 

 selves, whose commercial and maritime advancement depends so 

 essentially upon the application of steam power-,) a thorough ac- 

 quaintance with the carboniferous sites in China, we shall at the 

 same time obtain a general insight into the physical and geolo- 

 gical relations of her rocks. I would even suggest, that agents, 

 possessing sufficient knowledge of coal-fields and mining wealth, 

 should be attached to those permanent stations which are to be oc- 

 cupied by our forces ; whence, if a friendly spirit of intercourse 

 is continued, excursions could be made into the interior. Thanks 

 to the diff'usion of knowledge, our rulers can now have no diffi- 

 culty in procuring much useful geological information, even by di- 

 recting their own officers to make the inquiries within their reach ; 

 and if consuls cannot be found, who to a familiarity with statistics 

 add the powers of scientific research, it is at all events well known, 

 that our highly instructed corps of Royal Engineers contains within 

 it several good geologists. Let therefore British statesmen en- 

 courage our science ; and, casting their eyes around our vast 

 colonies, apply to them some measure of that geological research 

 which they are so judiciously and liberally patronizing in our own 

 islands. 



From these anticipations of the exploration of China, we may turn 

 with pleasure to the recent advances which have been made in Hin- 

 dostan. Notwithstanding all previous researches, a great portion of 

 the peninsula was believed to be slightly interesting to palaeonto- 

 logists, and to contain very few traces occupied by secondary strata, 

 as interesting as those of the Run of Cutch described by Captain 

 Grant. This opinion has, it appears, been much over-stated ; for 

 under the modest announcement of " a collection of fossils disco- 

 vered by the writer in rocks in Southern India," Mr. Kaye has re- 

 cently made known to us the presence of considerable masses of 

 limestone near Pondicherry charged with Nautili, Ammonites, Ba- 

 culites, and Hamites, with numerous genera of conchifers and mol- 

 lusks,as well as with remains of Polyparia,Echinid8e, and Ichthyolites. 

 Judging from this beautiful collection, which was exhibited at our 

 rooms, there can be no doubt that the fossils belong to the Creta- 

 ceous system, of which we have hitherto had no account in southern 



