BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. XXVll 



before then by Eennell and otliers to tbe onter ridges of the 

 true Himalayahs, and the lower elevations towards the 

 plains. Dr. Falconer restricted the term definitely to the 

 flanking tertiary range, which is commonly separated from the 

 Himalayahs by valleys or Dhoons. The proposed name was 

 not favourably received at the time by geographical authori- 

 ties in India ; but it is now universally adopted in geography 

 and geology, as a convenient and well-founded designation. 



When, in 1831, Dr. Falconer determined the tertiary age 

 of the Sewalik Hills, the confirmatory evidence of animal 

 remains was wanting ; but he was led to the conclusion ' that 

 the remains of Mastodon and other large extinct mammalia 

 would be found either in the gravel or in other deposits 

 occupying the same position in some part of the range, and 

 the notice in Ferishta's Indian History of the bones of giants 

 being found in the hiEs in which the Sutlej took its origin 

 made this opinion the more probable.' ' Still other geolo- 

 gists, including Govan, Herbert, and a sharp-eyed observer 

 like Jacquemont, had previously gone over the ground, but 

 had failed to detect any fossil remains. Towards the end 

 of 1831, Dr. Falconer, from the indication of a ' black cylin- 

 drical fossil,' found some years before by his friend and 

 colleague Capt. (now Sir Proby T.) Cautley, but the real 

 nature of which had been previously overlooked, was led to 

 discover bones of crocodiles, tortoises, and other fossil re- 

 mains in the tertiary strata of the Sewalik Hills. A brief 

 notice of this important discovery, extracted from a letter by 

 Dr. Falconer, appeared in the ' Journal of the Asiatic Society ' 

 for March 1832. ^ In April 1834, Dr. Falconer discovered 

 the shell of a fossil Tortoise in the Timli Pass, and imme- 

 diately after the search was followed up with characteristic 

 energy by Capt. Cautley in the Kalowala Pass by means of 

 blasting, and resulted in the discovery of more perfect re- 

 mains, including Miocene mammalian genera. The finding, 

 therefore, of the fossil fauna of the Sewalik Hills was not 

 fortuitous, but a result led up to by researches suggested by 

 previous special study, and followed out with a definite aim. 



The researches thus begun were followed, about the end of 

 1834, by the discovery by Lieutenants Baker and Durand of 



' Letter to Professor Jameson. letter to Professor Jameson, already re- 



' Op. cit. vol. i. pp. 96 and 249, and ferred to. 



