386 The Turaee and Outer Mountains of Kumaoon. [May, 



The strata of sand and marl which contain the fossils of the Sewalik 

 seem to underlie the great mass of gravel, which thus forms a sort of 

 chronometer to assure us of the immense period which has elapsed 

 since they lived : as the enumeration of the species — horses, camels, 

 hippopotami, tapirs, crocodiles, tortoises, &c, — proves the change which 

 has occurred in the " physical Geography" of the tract where they 

 flourished — the site of the actual Himalaya ; the nature of these animals 

 would lead us infer much of it to have been then rather a level country 

 than the reverse ; and that doubtless, was the period when the Ziziphus 

 grew at and gave its name to Budureenath ! Under this aspect the 

 upheavement of the Sewalik ranges was probably synchronical with 

 that of the great granitic axis itself, and a consequence of the same 

 forces. Although intermitted in the most of Kumaoon, the Sewalik 

 appears to be reproduced in the Chiriaghattee and Bichiakoree ranges 

 which separate the valley of Nepal from the plains of Tirhoot. But 

 these speculations intrude needlessly on the province of Dr. Falconer, 

 and are only excusable by the circumstance that his work has not yet 

 reached Kumaoon. 



December 17. — To Mohan, about 7 miles up the right bank of the 

 Kosilla, on its west side, and 276 feet above Dhikkolee. A violent and 

 bitterly cold wind blew down the Pass all the morning lulling about 10 

 a. m. when the air became calm, and the sun's rays oppressive. About 

 two miles up the river, the hills recede on each side, leaving a level 

 valley, which, with the exception of one or two small clearings, consists 

 of poor stony land, overrun with low jungle : on the hills the forest is 

 unbroken. This area must have been occupied by a lake, till the Ko- 

 silla cut through the Pass ; in which an isolated pyramidal mass of clay 

 and gravel, standing out of the river, remains the momento of the de- 

 parted mountain. At Mohan, the Kosilla makes a great bend from 

 the east, and properly turns the western extremity of the Gagur ; on 

 the opposite or East bank is Chookum village, with a spacious flat, laid 

 out in rice of the first quality. Its cultivation is the inducement to 

 occupy a spot, of which the appearance of the people attests the insalu- 

 brity ; they perish in raising the staff of life. The fever becomes viru- 

 lent in Asar, (June-July,) and lasts till Assouj, (September-October,) 

 but is most fatal in August and September. The presence of the Maloo 

 (Bauhinia Valilii) is one of the tests by which, in the opinion of the 



