137 



India ; whilst other remains obtained from the neighbourhood of 

 Triehinopoly and Verdaehellum may possibly belong to intermediate 

 and younger deposits, and thus a strong additional incentive is sup- 

 plied to prosecute researches in Southern India, by the discovery of 

 singularly well-preserved chalk fossils, where their existence had 

 never been suspected. 



Lt. Baird Smith, E.I.C., has furnished us with a faithful re- 

 cord of certain boring operations at Fort William ; curious and 

 instructive in showing the varying nature of the deposits which 

 have for ages been accumulated to form the great Gangetic delta. 

 The lower parts 350 to 480 feet below the surface, were found 

 to consist of rolled pebbles and gravel of crystalline rocks, very 

 analogous to those described by Capt. Cautley at the base of the 

 Himalaya range, v/hilst the overlying bedswere composed of clay and 

 sand, including some hard detritus, and much of the peculiar sub- 

 stance termed Kunkur, and the uppermost strata contained portions 

 of peat and fragments of trees. 



Another short memoir on India, by the Rev. R. Everest, is upon 

 the high temperature of wells in the neighbourhood of Delhi. 

 Giving tables of the tempei-ature of numerous wells around three 

 different localities, the most remote being about ninety miles 

 from Delhi, he finds in all a sensible increase of warmth from 

 the surface downwai'ds. The author endeavours to explain the 

 higher temperature of these wells as compared with those of Sinca- 

 pore, by supposing, that in this sandy tract, entirely devoid of rivers, 

 rivulets, or even springs, the water is exclusively derived from the 

 hot south-west monsoon, which, blowing nearly from the equatoi-, 

 transports and lodges a vast quantity of aqueous vapour having a 

 temperature of 77° to 81°; and as little or no rain falls in the cooler 

 seasons, this fact alone would, he supposes, account both for the 

 high temperature of the surface and that of the interior. Applying 

 this to geology, Mr. Everest says, " it may be easily conceived, 

 that, when a much greater portion of the globe was covered with 

 water and the evaporating surface was consequently larger, currents 

 of air charged with aqueous vapour prevailed still more and modi- 

 fied the ancient climate, eveii in still higher latitudes." 



Egypt, — Let us now consider what amount of information has 

 recently been laid before us concerning the structure of Egj'^pt. 

 Prefacing his sketch of the geology of that country with a view of 

 the physical features which divide it into productive and sterile 

 tracts, and which are intimately connected with the nature of the 

 rocks, Lieut. Newbold* shows, that the horizontal position of the 

 gi'eat masses of depository strata afi'ords no traces of dislocation ex- 

 cept in Upper Egypt, where inclined beds, fissures, and altered rocks 

 attest the agency of eruptive matter. An account of the hypogene 

 rocks, and of the peculiar " breccia di verde," is followed by a sketch 

 of the great sedimentary masses in ascending order, and these con- 

 sist of three formations only, viz. a lower sandstone, a marine lime- 



* Of the East India Company's Service. 



VOL. IV. PART I. L 



