382 PKOCEEDINGS OI" THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIEXT. [Apr. 26, 



Mongolia in the north, and from Anhwei on the east to an unknown 

 distance west, in all probability far into Central Asia. It rises in por- 

 tions, as in Shansi and Mongolia, to a height of about 6000 feet over 

 the present sea-level, forming at that elevation a deposit upwards 

 of 1000 feet deep. At its southern extremity, in Kiangsu, it does not 

 at present rise more than about 200 feet, though apparent fragments 

 in the sides of the hills rise possibly to 400 feet. Over the raised 

 plain of Anhwei it has been greatly denuded, and probably to a 

 considerable extent rearranged. We must therefore believe in a 

 general depression of Eastern Asia, at least from the latitude of 30° 

 to 45° north and from 90° to 120° east longitude. This, however, 

 is not all : South China, though probably never entirely submerged 

 during the Tertiary epoch, shows in its valleys some traces of marine 

 deposits of that age. Cambodia and Siam, as well as Birmah, with 

 their fossil forests and beds of animal remains, have probably joined 

 in the downward movement. The Sewalik hills, in India, seem to 

 point to an elevation of some 6000 feet since the Miocene period. If 

 Captain Montgomerie's pundit is to be believed, the plain of Lhasa, 

 upwards of 11,000 feet over the sea-level, tells a similar tale. It 

 may therefore be assumed that within the Tertiary epoch the whole 

 of eastern Asia underwent a movement of depression and subse- 

 quent elevation. At the point of greatest depression, North China 

 (except j)erhaps a few summits, such as the Ho-shan, in Shansi) 

 was under the level of the sea ; South China formed a group of 

 deeply indented islands, representing the ancient boundary-chains 

 of the southern provinces. During the time of depression, while 

 land was still near, the Luchow sandstones and Tertiary gravels 

 were deposited ; afterwards, in the bed of a comparatively deep and 

 tranquil sea, and at a distance from shore sufficient to have allowed 

 aU but the most impalpable particles to have already subsided, the 

 Loess beds were thrown down. 



Sufficiently startling, however, as is this induction, we can by no 

 means stop there if we accept the premises. One of the most re- 

 markable features in the geology of the chain of islands which bound 

 on the west the great Pacific Ocean, is the enormous development of 

 sandstones and coal-beds, accompanied with conglomerates of various 

 sorts. Some of these beds, as at Takosima, near Nagasaki, in Japan, 

 and at Apes' Hill, near Taiwan, in Formosa, are rich in fossil re- 

 mains ; the coal-beds of Borneo are also known to have yielded 

 characteristic fossils. Beginning, then, with Borneo, — stretching 

 through the Philippine Islands, — continiiing on through Formosa 

 and probably the Loochoo Islands, — occurring again in Kiushiu, 

 Mphon, and Yesso, in Japan, and extending as far as the coal-field 

 of Dui, in Saghalien, we find a series of beds of sandstone, coal, and 

 conglomerate agreeing generally in geological structure, and yielding, 

 at such distant spots as Borneo, Formosa, and Elushiu, characteristic 

 fossils of apparently Mid-Tertiary age. 



If we accept the submergence theory for Eastern Asia during this 

 period, we must look elsewhere than to the present continent for the 

 supply of materials for these very extensive deposits, as well as for 



