1842.] of the Himmalay a Mountains. cxlix 



tic observation, where the locality and elevation are actually known, 

 can be considered quite decisive of the fact of secondary formations 

 being found at uncommon elevations. For the occurrence of ammo- 

 nites and belemnites is by no means universally allowed to be charac- 

 teristic of secondary rocks ; and even by that school which asserts their 

 presence to be destructive of the primary character of a rock, they 

 are allowed to belong to the oldest of the secondary, or what they 

 would call, the transition formation. 



320. A more curious fact is that of the bones brought from the 

 neighbourhood of the Neetee Pass, and which Mr. Buckland has recognis- 

 ed as belonging to the same era with those of the caves, the history 

 of which he has so ably illustrated.* As this fact would establish 

 the identity of the deposit in which they are found, with that which 

 he has called diluvian, and which is the newest of all the formations, 

 it would certainly be very interesting to settle accurately the locality 

 from which they are derived. But nothing certain is known on this 

 subject further than the negative fact, that they are not to be found 

 south of the Neetee Pass. Hitherto, they have been collected only 

 by natives, whose reports, — never very precise as to particulars the 

 value of which they do not appreciate, — can scarcely be allowed to 

 settle a point of this interest ; even their account, however, places them 

 a considerable distance northward of the limits of the zone, marked 

 by the snowy summits of the Himmalaya. 



321. Thus then it appears, that at present all we know of certain 

 is, the occurrence of a limestone with ammonites at an elevation 

 of 16,000 feet above the sea, and at no great distance from the 

 boundary of the Himmalaya gneiss. As to the other organic remains, 

 they are brought from beyond our frontier by natives, but neither the 

 distance or the elevation are precisely known. But granting all that 

 these may seem to prove, as to the great elevation to which secondary 



ever been assigned to this class, as have been to the primary and secondary, it is not 

 very unfair to consider this procedure as something similar to what is called a petitio 

 principii. 



* A collection of these bones belonging to Mr. Traill, which I had an opportunity 

 of examining, appeared to me to be perfectly mineralised, j udging from their high speci- 

 fic gravity. Now the peculiar character of the diluvium bones is stated to consist in their 

 being not at all, or at least very imperfectly mineralised, differing in fact very little 

 from grave bones of high antiquity, light, porous, and absorbent to the tongue. 



