390 Professor Buckland on the Bones of Mastodon, ^c. from Ava. 



tains the following" curious notice of the discovery of fossil bones near the 

 town of Pinjore, N. lat. 30° 47', E. long-. 76° 54'. 



" On the king's return to the capital in the month of Rejib 762 (May 1360), 

 he heard that, in the vicinity of Perwar, was a hill out of which issued a stream 

 of water that emptied itself into the Setluj river, which the people called the 

 Sursetti, and that beyond it was a smaller stream denominated Selima. 



" It was stated, that if an eminence which intervened between these streams 

 were cut through, the waters of the Sursetti, falling- into the smaller stream, 

 would flow on to Sunam, passing by Serhuid and Mausurpur, and that the 

 supply of water would be perennial. 



" On this information, the king proceeded in that direction ; and causing 

 lifty thousand labourers to be collected, he employed them in cutting through 

 the mound or hill, so as to form a junction of the two streams. In this mound 

 w ere found the bones of elephants and men. The bones of the human fore- 

 arm measured 3 gez, or 5 feet 2 inches in length. Some of the bones were 

 petrified, others resembled bone." 



Although from this ancient description it is quite impossible to ascertain 

 the species of the animals to which these bones belonged, and quite certain 

 that they were not human, it is evident from their magnitude that they were 

 from some of the larger Pachydermata, but whether elephant or mastodon is 

 not apparent, as we can impute no great skill in anatomy to the person who 

 describes a human fore-arm 5 feet 2 inches long ; still, the existence of the 

 bones of any such gigantic species is an interesting addition to our knowledge 

 of the natural history of India. 



We of course can learn nothing from this account as to the geological 

 position of these bones being in tertiary strata or diluvium : this is a question 

 which even a modern geologist might find it difficult to determine, especially 

 in cases where diluvial deposits rest immediately on tertiary formations. The 

 case which in the present year occurred at Brentford, of bones of the elephant, 

 hyaena, and other quadrupeds being- found in the same excavation with the 

 marine shells of the London clay, shows how much caution is requisite in 

 geological observations of this nature. These bones were sent to the Society, 

 accompanied by a report that they had been extracted from the London clay; 

 and had the locality been in India, we should have been without means of 

 correcting this information : but, on further examination of the spot, it was 

 found (as had been stated on a former occasion by Mr. Trimmer*), that 

 although dug from the same pits with the London clay, the bones had no 



* In the Phil. Trans. 1813. p. 134. 



