XCll PHOCEEDINGS OP THE 



tlien, perhaps, than now) proyincial station, with very few European 

 residents, these had to draw on local means alone in all emergen- 

 cies where the appliances of civilized life were required. This 

 was also the only source to which Dr. falconer could look for such 

 scientific appliances as his inquiries demanded ; and in the utili- 

 zation of the intelligence, docility, and manual dexterity of the 

 natives his zeal and energy enabled him to efliect more than might 

 have been deemed possible. 



To construct a mountain-barometer, for instance, broken tum- 

 blers were melted and made into a tube, whilst the mercury was 

 distilled from cinnabar purchased in the bazaar ; a reservoir was 

 turned out of boxwood felled on the mountain ; and, lastly, a brass 

 scale was cast, shaped, and graduated by a native blacksmith under 

 the superintending eye of the master. Such discipline was of infi- 

 nite value in training the young officer to habits of self-reliance, 

 and in establishiug kindly relations with those around him, and 

 no doubt contributed greatly to the fund of universal information 

 for which Dr. Falconer was afterwards so remarkable. 



Thus favourably situated and prepared as he was by previous 

 training and special study, it was not long before Dr. Falconer's 

 well-directed observations were duly rewarded by important dis- 

 coveries in his favourite subject of palaeontology. In 1832 he 

 commenced an exploration of the subhimalayan range, and, led 

 by the indications afforded by a specimen in the collection of his 

 friend and colleague, Capt. (now Sir Proby T.) Cautley, he dis- 

 covered vertebrate fossil remains in situ in the tertiary strata of 

 the Sewalik Hills, as recorded in a brief communication to the 

 ' Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal ' for 1832. The search 

 was speedily followed up by Capt. Cautley in the Kolowala Pass, 

 and resulted in the discovery of more perfect remains, including 

 those of several Miocene Mammalian genera. Early in 1831 Dr. 

 Falconer gave a brief account of the Sewalik Hills, describing their 

 physical features and geological structure, with the first published 

 section, showing their relation to the Himalayas. The name 

 " SeAvalik," which had previously been rather vaguely applied, was 

 restricted by Dr. Falconer to the flanking tertiary range separated 

 from the Himalayas by valleys or " doons ; " and the term thus 

 restricted, though at first unfavourably received, is now universally 

 adopted. The " tertiary " age of the Sewalik Hills was now also 

 for the first time pointed out, in opposition to the notion that they 

 belonged to the New Eed Sandstone, to which they had previously 

 been referred. 



