1833.] and on the Fossil Bones collected on the Jamna. 625 
It is excavated principally by the boat and ghat men, or the villa- 
gers of the Mallah class, on the immediate spot ; and the search for it, 
and the mode of raising it, is simple. 
In the hot months, when the river is low, these men observe what 
parts of the bank have been left by the river (Sketch Ist) so bare of 
sand, or deposits of mud, as to allow of a probability of the flags being 
reached without much labour in the removal of the superincumbent 
body. Theyare, from theexcavations in former years, acquainted with 
the spots in which they may expect to find the flags, and the upper 
mass being cleared away, if the flags are reached, the excavation is 
carried on as long as the easy slope of the bank allows of its being pro- 
fitable. It is generally from about the bottom of the bank, at the le- 
vel of the lowest fall of the river in the dry months, that the flags are 
taken, and they are traced at all heights from this level up to 20 or 25 
feet above it, but rarely or never higher. Below this lowest level, they 
are found in depths as great as the water has allowed of the excava- 
tion being prosecuted in, but that is not more than 4 or 5 feet. To- 
wards the centre of the river they are raised from similar depths be- 
low the surface (Sketch 4th) from a spaee on which sand settles annu- 
ally over a greater or less extent. Whenever any part is perceived 
free of sand, and the flags felt at the bottom of the water clear of that 
obstruction, they are detached by common iron implements, and raised. 
As is the case near the shore, the depths from which they are 
lifted do not exceed 4 or 5 feet. In raising the flags, it is usual to cut 
them across, (Sketch 2nd,) to reduce them to manageable dimensions, 
and as they are sometimes connected with each other at the edges, they 
are there too cut asunder. They are generally taken out in lengths of 
from 2 to 4 feet, the breadth varying from 1 to 2 feet. 
Long round pieces are sometimes found between the flat slabs, 
(Sketch 3,) that is of course when the latter are not so close as to be 
connected. These round pieces are always smooth, never knotted, at: 
least as those common on the surface of the kankar banks and shoals 
usually are. The round are always met within the horizontal line be- 
tween the flat pieces, never above or below them, not even when there are 
double or treble strata of slabs. The directions of the lateral divi- 
sions of the slabs, as also of the grooves which channel the surfaces of 
both the flat and round pieces, is stated to correspond nearly with that 
of the present course of the river. These flags are said to harden on 
exposure to the air. It is unusual to find, in other parts of the bank, 
fine sand, similar to that of the sand strata immediately adjoining the 
3M 
