XXII. — On the Structure of the Sevdlik Hills, and the Organic Remains 

 found in them. 



By PROBY T. CAUTLEY, Esq., Capt. Bengal Artillery, F.G.S. 



[Read March 9, 1836.] 



L HE mountainSj a part of which I am about to describe, range (with the 

 exception of the debouchures of rivers) almost uninterruptedly from the Sutluj, 

 which separates the territory of the British Government from that of the Sikh 

 chieftain, Runjeet Sing, to the Burhampootur river, and the district of Cooch 

 Behar. Their general bearing, in the portion near the Sutluj*, is N.W. and 

 S.E. ; but in that approaching the Burhampootur, it is many points nearer 

 direct east and west. They lie at the foot of the great Himalayan chain, with 

 which they are in some parts connected by a succession of low mountains ; 

 but in others, as in the districts under review, they are separated by valleys 

 from three to ten miles in width, and called by the natives Deyra Dhoon, 

 Kearda Dhoon, &c., or the Valley of Deyra, the Valley of Kearda, &c. The 

 highest peaks do not far exceed 3000 feet, and the generality of the sum- 

 mits vary from 2000 to 2500 above the level of the sea. It is necessary, 

 however, to premise, that my observations have not extended further eastward 

 than the Ganges ; and that whatever I may record, in this paper, beyond that 

 river, is given on the authority of others. 



Between the Ganges and Jumna rivers, this line of mountains is separated 

 from the great chain of the Himalayas by the Dhoon, or valley of Deyra, the 

 average width of which may be under ten miles. At the Ganges, or south- 

 eastern extremity, a road passes between the chain and the river ; and no dif- 

 ficulty whatever is offered to the approach to the valley. At the opposite or 

 Jumna extremity, on the contrary, the mountains are in many places scarped 

 into the river ; and the footpath used by the boat and raft people, is an irre- 

 gular track, over ridge and through hollow, and impinges upon the river at 



« Plate XIX. Map. 

 VOL. V. SECOND SERIES. 2 N 



