1834.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 529 



" Some days hence T will despatch to the Museum some more relics from Bchat. 

 Circumstances have prevented a fair opportunity of continuing the search, but 

 there are a few more interesting coins, one of them bearing a distinct inscription, 

 some rings, and a small idol made of either sandstone or composition : a great 

 quantity of small irregular lumps of iron and slag have been found, with some 

 more arrowheads." 



Extracts of a letter from Capt. Edward Smith, Engineers, were read, ex- 

 plaining that he had been induced to postpone furnishing the list of tha 

 fossils from the Jumna, presented by him to the Society in December last, 

 by having afterwards received further remains of the same kind in great 

 number and variety, which he is now preparing to dispatch. 



" You are I believe aware of the existence of fossils in the Jumna, in a greater 

 abundance than was at first supposed ; but I have, notwithstanding my own ex- 

 pectations to that effect, been surprised at the quantities that the last four or five 

 months have produced, and the length of course of the river through which they 

 are found. In the observations that have been made of the situations, only beds 

 in which they have been lodged, there may be obtained some conclusions that the 

 former less exact acquaintance with the place of deposit gave uo evidence of. Some 

 of these specimens are of such size that I shall have difficulty in finding an early 

 conveyance for them, which however, I will look out for. I scarcely anticipated 

 being able to add so largely to those already in your possession ; there having 

 this year been no works on the river in parts containing fossils. It was in de- 

 scending the river, in March last, that searching on the banks I discovered those 

 which are in preparation for you." 



that emptied itself into the Setlej 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 Serhind and Mausurpur, and that the supply of water would be 

 perennial. 



" On this information, the King (Feroz) proceeded in that direction ; and causing 

 fifty 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 were 

 found the bones of elephants and men. The bones of the human forearm measured 

 3 gez, or 5 feet 2 inches, in length. Some of the bones were petrified, others resem- 

 bled bone." 



We strongly recommend the canal thus cut by Feroz Shah, five centuries ago, to a 

 careful elucidation by Captain Cautley. If it still exist, it must afford one of the 

 best situations for studying the direction and nature of the gravel deposits of the 

 lower range, and of their fossil contents. It is seldom that a geologist can command 

 the aid of fifty thousand men to open a section of the Himalayan strata to his view. 



The fossil deposits of the north-east extremity of the great range are also well de- 

 serving of further examination. It was among the mutilated fragments of bone pro- 

 cured by Mr. Colebrooke in Kooch-behar, on the banks of the Brahmaputra river, 

 that Mr. Pentland discovered traces of the Anthracotherium of Cuvier. It is most 

 probable that the declivities of the lower range in its entire length will afford very 

 numerous tertiary fossil deposits, when it comes to be explored. — Ed. 



2 Y 



