572 



PRIMEVAL MAN, 



tween Agra and that station the fall of the country is con- 

 siderable, and the waters of the Jumna have produced the 

 usual effects of river-action operations during a long lapse of 

 ages. The stream had gradually cut its way down through 

 the ' Ancient Alluvium ' to a depth of from 100 to 140 feet 

 below the level of the adjacent plains, thus exposing a very 

 instructive section of great extent. The ' Ancient Alluvium ' 

 here spoken of consists of beds of sand and clay, containing 

 embedded in them enormous quantities of the impure cal- 

 careous aggregations called nodular Kankar, and commonly, 

 at the bottom of the section, partial beds composed of 

 tabular masses of Slab-kankar, which are removed for archi- 

 tectural purposes. 1 In scouring the channel down through 

 the Ancient Alluvium, the course of the river has intersected 

 these beds of SSlab-kankar, which form, here and there, sub- 

 aqueous reefs obstructing the navigation of the river. The 

 Government of India, in 1828, undertook a series of ope- 

 rations, which extended over seven years, for the removal 

 of these and other obstacles, from the bed of the Jumna. 

 They were conducted chiefly by Captain Edward Smith, an 

 accomplished officer of the Bengal Engineers. Fossil bones 

 of extinct Mammalia were discovered, in great abundance, 

 below the tabular extensions of Slab-kankar, which, beyond 

 question, is a formation of very great antiquity and long 

 antecedent to the flow of the present channel of the Jumna. 

 Captain Smith believed that among these osseous remains 

 he had detected human bones, some of which have been 

 figured. 2 But after submitting them to a close examina- 

 tion, to which I shall have occasion to refer in the sequel, 

 the identifications proved to be untrustworthy or erroneous. 

 Another observation, however, was made by Captain Smith, 

 upon which, as a professional expert, he was competent to 

 give an authoritative opinion ; namely, that some of the 

 fossil bones ' were dug from depths of 6 to 18 inches in the 

 firm shoal, which is composed of substances (sic) kankar 

 stone, rounded bricks (vitrified clay ?) more or less rolled 

 and cemented by mud and clay.' 3 These observations, pub- 

 lished in 1833, excited lively interest and discussion in the 

 Indian scientific journals. Mr. James Prinsep referred, 



1 The nodular kankar of India, al- 

 though on a much greater scale of 

 aggregation, is identical in its nature 

 and composition -with the impure cal- 

 careous nodules called ' JRace,' which are 

 so abundant in the ' Brick-earth ' de- 

 posits of the Valley of the Thames : 

 ' Bacc,' from their resemblance in form 

 to a rhizoma or Eace of Ginger. The 



tabular hanlear is not represented in 

 England by any equivalent deposits; 

 but although more impure, it resembles 

 the travertine of the 'Mammoth Felder,' 

 at Cannstadt. 



2 Journ. Asiat, Soc. of Berg. 1833, 

 vol. ii. p. 630, PL xxv. 



3 Loc. cit. 



