J2 FAUNA ANTIQUA SIVALENSIS. 



have a remarkable feature. The strata are m all directions 

 fractured or comrainuted ; the slaty rocks are broken into 

 small fragments, as if they had been crushed ; and the lime- 

 stone rocks are vesicular or cavernous, and broken up into 

 masses. 



The arrangement and nature of the soil take their character 

 from the rocks. From the high angle at which the latter are 

 inclined, and the northern direction of the slope, the soil is 

 chiefly accumulated on the northern sides, where is also the 

 vegetation. From the presence of schistose strata and lime- 

 stone, the soil underlying the vegetable mould is clayey and 

 calcareous, or limestone gravel. There is little sandy soil or 

 sandy gravel. From the extreme richness of the vegetation, 

 undisturbed for ages, and the moisture of the climate, there is 

 usually a great accumulation on the northern slopes of vege- 

 table mould ; on the southern faces, the great steej^ness leaves 

 little room for the accumulation of soil ; where it occurs it is in 

 patches, and consists of clays or limestone gravel, mixed up 

 with vegetable mould. There is here also little sandy soil. 

 Towards the crest of the slopes the soil is usually dry, from the 

 moisture running speedily oif; but lower down, and wherever 

 the ground is tolerably level, the soil is quite damp, and 

 perhaps it is rarely dry in the most parching seasons.^ 

 * * * * * 



The Himalayah mountains are skirted on the SW. by a 

 range of lower hills which separate them from the plains of 

 India. These commence at Eoopur on the Sutlej (see Plate 

 III.), in sandy elevations of inconsiderable height, and run 

 down a long way to the south, following the direction of the 

 great chain. In some places they run up to the Himalayahs, 

 and in others an intermediate valley lies between the two 

 ranges, as that of the Dhoon. On their SW. side, which 

 looks towards the plains, they are bounded by a broad belt of 

 luxuriant Terai jungle. The following observations refer 

 to that portion of the Sewalik hills which lies between the 

 Jumna and Ganges. I have not had an opportunity of 

 seeing them, where they extend to the east and west of the 

 Ganges and Jumna respectively, but there is little doubt that 

 the type of all that extends to the west of the Jumna, and 

 of several hundred miles of the tract of hUls to the east of the 

 Ganges, is to be found in what lies between these two rivers. 



The geological characters of the Sewalik hill formation 

 possess great interest. They appear to consist of an upheaved 

 portion of the plains of India lying at the foot of the Hima- 

 layah mountains. The nature of their mineral contents and 

 depth of the strata give evidence of their having been formed 



' "What follows is another portion of MSS. on tlie same subject. — [Ed.] 



