494 PBOCEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [JunO 17, 



western coast of India is of the same age as the implement-bearing 

 beds near Madras. The resemblance in geographical position is com- 

 plete ; and there is a strong likeness in the mineral characters of the 

 typical developments of the laterite on both coasts, as seen at Tan- 

 jore and Cuddalore on the east coast, and on the west coast in the 

 railway- cuttings near Shoranur, in South Malabar, and at Kotium, in 

 Travancore. I have annexed a small map (fig. 1), in which I have en- 

 deavoured to give an approximation to a contour-line representing 

 roughly the coast-line which would appear if the land were again 

 depressed to a depth of 500 feet*. It will be seen from this that the 

 area of the peninsula would be much reduced, and also that a num- 

 ber of islands would appear along the coasts. 



As very few data are available for the construction of such a con- 

 tour-line, allowances must be made for the inevitable rudeness of 

 the attempt. My object in constructing this map was to indicate 

 the region over which it is desirable that search should be made for 

 further evidences of the extension of the laterite sea. 



DiscxrssioK. 



The Peesident referred to the evidence of Physical Geography 

 to prove that the Deccan was once an island, and to Ethnological 

 data to prove that the people who made the quartzite implements 

 were probably not the original Aryans, but were the ancestors of 

 the HiU tribes, whose nearest affinities are with the aboriginal Aus- 

 tralians of the present day. He was of opinion that the two popu- 

 lations were once nearly or quite continuous, having been sub- 

 sequently cut into segments by geological changes — and that the 

 makers of the quartzite implements came from the same stock as 

 both these recent tribes, which present the most rudimentary civi- 

 lization known. 



Prof. EuPEET Jones called attention to the similarity in the type of 

 these quartzite implements and that of the flint implements of Europe. 



Sir RoDEEiCK MuECHisoiir doubted whether the laterite was a 

 marine formation, as neither in it nor in the lacustrine deposits 

 alluded to had any organic remains been found. 



M. Lenoemand stated that Obsidian knives, like Mexican types, 

 were found by him, with domestic implements cut out of volcanic 

 stone, under 70 feet of tuff of the primitive volcano of Santorin ; 

 and he considered that before the formation of the first volcano 

 ceramic pottery was brought to Santorin from foreign shores, and, 

 of course, by sea. 



Dr. Meeyok remarked that the occurrence of the same type of 

 implement in Europe and Asia proved a dispersion of the human 

 race in very ancient times, and that man originated from one centre ; 

 while in later times a divergence of type in the worked objects was 

 a result of the dispersion. 



Mr. Peestwtch was inclined to believe that greater physical 

 changes had occurred in India since the Pliocene period than in 

 * The area which would be submerged is not shaded. 



