AND HIS COTEMPORARIES. .571 



Primeval Man, and His Cotemporaries. 

 introductory remarks. 



The geological proofs of the antiquity of the human race 

 have recently attracted a large measure of attention both 

 among men of science and among educated minds of all 

 classes. The question by common consent is admitted to 

 be one of the most important which has been raised of late 

 years ; it is further generally admitted that it has made ad- 

 vanced progress towards a secure basis of demonstration, 

 and that English observers have given the greatest impulse 

 to the inquiry. They prefer no claim to have been the first 

 in the field ; but when the inferences arrived at by the 

 earlier inquirers were either forgotten or discredited, whether 

 from suspicion of the evidence, from the undue weight of 

 opposed authority, or from deep-rooted prejudices in favour 

 of established opinions, they reopened the question upon 

 fresh observations, and tested the facts with such scrupulous 

 care, that they speedily carried with them the convictions 

 of men of science of all countries. Among these leading ob- 

 servers, Mr. Prestwich, in one walk of the investigation, 

 beyond all others holds the first rank. Once fairly launched, 

 in 1858-59, the subject excited lively interest; the field was 

 soon occupied by a host of labourers ; additional evidence 

 poured in from various quarters ; and one important con- 

 tribution was exhumed from the published transactions of a 

 learned society, where it had slumbered for sixty years in 

 undisturbed repose. 



My attention has been directed to the subject, more or less 

 continually, during many yeai'S of pateontological research, 

 and I propose to give a brief narrative of the circumstances 

 which lead me to take up the question of the antiquity of 

 the human race, in order to satisfy my readers that 1 do 

 not now approach the subject wholly unprepared by ante- 

 cedent study. 



II. 



The vast expanse of the plains of Hindostan consists of a 

 fundamental stratum of very ancient alluvium, which is 

 developed in great force. It is longitudinally traversed, 

 after their escape from the Himalayan Mountains, by the 

 Ganges and Jumna rivers, which unite at Allahabad. Be- 



