STRUCTUEE OF SEWALIK HILLS. 



31 



upon the river at those points only where the stream, in its 

 meandering course, strikes the opposite side of the channel. 

 The intermediate roads, or ghats, follow the rivers or hill- 

 streams ; for in such an utter confusion of mountains any 

 other passage is impossible. A few of these roads are pass- 

 able for wheeled carriages, but the generality are bad foot- 

 paths. Between the Jumna and the Sutlej are two other val- 

 leys, the Kearda and the Pinjore, separated from each other by 

 one of those complex masses of moimtains which connect 

 the lower with the upper Himalayah range. The hills are 

 generally less precipitous in this neighbourhood ; and the 

 higher points and ridges are separated by valleys, affording 

 a draina.ge to the country, and displaying on each side high 

 and beautiful sections of the stratification. These valleys, or 

 plateaux — for, with reference to the rivers rumiing below 

 them, they may be considered as such — vary in width, but ex- 

 tend along the whole course of the mountain-streams. 



As much confusion may be avoided, in the absence of a 

 native name for the whole range of these mountains between 

 the Sutlej and the Brahmapootra, by establishing one which 

 may be considered legitimate, I wish to propose that of 

 Sewalik,' formerly applied to the portion between the Ganges 

 and the Jumna ; a name which appears to me better than 

 that of the ' Lower Hills ' or the ' Sub-Himalayan,' terms, 

 equally applicable to the subordinate ranges northwards of 

 the Himalayahs. 



These preliminary observations, with the appended sketch of 

 the country (Plate III.), will make the reader acquainted with 

 the field of our fossil discoveries ; and I proceed to the de- 

 scription of the geological features of the tract. The forma- 

 tions composing the hills consist of beds of boulders or shingle, 



' In Smith's Exotic Botany, vol. i. p. 9., 

 is the description of the Bhododendron 

 arhornm. He refers it ' to the moun- 

 tainous tract called the Sewalik chain, 

 which separates the planes of Hindostan, 

 between 75° and 85° E. long, from the 

 Himalayah mountains. I make the quo- 

 tation for the value of the name, thoufrh 

 the statement is evidently wrong ; the 

 rhododendron in question growing in 

 the Himalayahs themselves at a high ele- 

 vation, and in company with oaks. The 

 chain separating the plains of Hindostan 

 from the Himalayahs, which is the one 

 now under review, is subject to a mean 

 temperature perfectly inimical to oaks 

 and the Rhododendron arhoreum. The 

 name is quoted also in Dow's History, 

 and in some traditional writings in the 

 possession of the high priest or Mahant 



residing at Deyra. The derivation sup- 

 plied by the high priest is as follows: — • 

 ' Sewaxik, a corruption of Shihwalia, 

 a name given to the tract of mountains 

 between the Jumna and the Ganges, 

 from having been the residence of 

 Ayshoor Shib, a name of Mahadeo and 

 his son Gun, who, under the form of an 

 elephant, had charge of the westerly 

 portion, from the village of Doodhli, to 

 the Jumna ; which portion is also called 

 Gungujur (gujv.r, elephant) : the portion 

 eastward from. Doodhli, or- between that 

 village and Hurdwar, is called Deodhar, 

 from its being the especial residence of 

 Deota, or Ayshoor Shib. The whole 

 tract, however, between the Jumna and 

 the Ganges, is called Shibwalla, or the 

 habitation of Shib.' 



