ZCV PEOCEEDINGS OF THE 



where lie passed the winter andspring examining the natural history 

 of the valley. The following summer (1838) he crossed the moun- 

 tains to Iskardo in Bulkistan, and, by the aid of Eajah Ahmed 

 Shah, traced the Shiggar branch of the Indus to its source in the 

 glacier on the southern flank of the Mooztagh range, 28,000 feet 

 above the level of the sea. After examining the great glaciers of 

 Arindoh and of the Brahldoh valley, he retiu^ned to India via 

 Cashmere and the Punjaub, towards the close of 1838, to resume 

 his duties at Suharanpoor. Of this interesting tour he has left 

 copious notes, which it is to be hoped may some day be published ; 

 but those who enjoyed his intimacy will long remember the ani- 

 mated and interesting way in which he occasionally related some 

 of the strange and curious incidents which befell him and his com- 

 panions in the course of it. One very striking anecdote occurs 

 to my recollection, according to which the safety of himself and 

 his company were on one occasion secured by the favour he won 

 from a chief by the exhibition of the wonders displayed in a drop 

 of water by the microscope, and the politic presentation of the 

 wonder-working instrument to the admiring chief. 



In 184<0 Dr. Falconer's health, shattered by numerous attacks 

 of illness, completely gave way, and in 1842 he was compelled to 

 seek for a chance of recovery in Europe. He returned to England, 

 bringing with him the natural-history collections amassed during 

 his residence in India and on his extensive journeyings. These 

 amounted to eighty cases of dried plants and about fifty large 

 cases of fossil bones, together with geological specimens illustra- 

 tive of the Himalayan formations from the Indus to the Grogra, 

 and from the plains of the Punjaub across the mountains north ' 

 to the Mooztagh range. 



Soon after his return to England Dr. Ealcouer devoted himself 

 almost entirely to the arrangement and examination of the Sewalik 

 fossils. The vast collection made by Captain Cautley, filling 214 

 large chests, had been presented to the British Museum ; and the 

 selected collection belonging to Dr. Ealcouer himself was divided 

 between that institution and the India House. The labour of 

 superintending the preparation, and of describing and arranging 

 this enormous mass of materials, devolving upon Dr. Ealconer, he 

 devoted himself with characteristic zeal to the gigantic task. 

 Eooms for the purpose were assigned to him at the British Mu- 

 seum, whilst the Court of Directors liberally employed him on 

 duty on the footing of service in India ; and at his instance they 

 prepared a series of casts of the most remarkable fossils, which 



