556 Remarks on the 



it must be left to those geologists, who are furnished with more op- 

 portunities for practical observation, than fortune or favour seems in- 

 clined to grant to me, to assign the strata to the various portions of 

 the seasons above alluded to. It may be observed, however, as a rule, 

 that it is very possible to be unable to account for all the changes and 

 divisions observable in such deposits without in the least invalidating 

 the general theory of causes assigned for their production, just as we 

 see in the secondary formations, that geologists are pretty well agreed 

 as to the general conditions under which they were accumulated, 

 withoxit having been able satisfactorily to assign every variation to its 

 actual cause. 



Having thus far commented on the views set forth in a previous 

 number of this Journal, it may perhaps be expected, that I should at 

 least attempt to shew, what I consider to be the facts deducible from the 

 information we possess regarding the geological formation of our pre- 

 sidency. As this, however, if done properly, would occupy far more 

 space that can well be afforded in a publication of this nature, I shall 

 content myself with giving a mere outline of those circumstances, which 

 I think will go far to prove the truth of what I have already sug- 

 gested. 



Turning then to a Map of Tndia, we find that from the Delta of the 

 Ganges to the foot of the Outer-Himalaya, stretches an extensive tract 

 of alluvial lands, whose general inclination from the hills is so gradual, 

 as to warrant our terming them horizontal. This alluvial plain is the 

 production of the numerous rivers and minor streams, which flow down 

 from the various mountains by which it is bounded and intersected. 

 The larger rivers are supplied from the elevated chains of the Himalaya, 

 which stretch in a diagonal direction from S. E. to N. W. from the 

 northern and eastern boundaries ; the west is bounded by the Sooli- 

 maun and Belooche mountains, while the Rajmahl and other minor 

 ranges scattered between these boundaries and the sea, may be consi- 

 dered as the intersecting or interrupting chains, which here and there 

 break the vast continuity of the alluvial lands. This alluvium is the 

 produce of the rivers and streams, all of which date from the commence- 

 ment of the so-called historical era, that is, since the subsidence of 

 the Mosaic Deluge. This point is granted by the common voice of 

 geologists. 



Below the alluvium of the Delta, at the depth of 450 to 480 feet, is 

 found a conglomerate composed of fragments, of primary rocks, intermix- 

 ed with fossil remains and detritus, similar to those which occur in the 

 inclined diluvial strata of the Sub-Himalaya, and identical likewise, it is 



