Himalayan Journals — Volume 2: Or, Notes of a Naturalist in Bengal, the Sikkim and Nepal Himalayas, the Khasia Mountains, etc.Hooker, Joseph Dalton
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Himalayan Journals — Volume 2: Or, Notes of a Naturalist in Bengal, the Sikkim and Nepal Himalayas, the Khasia Mountains, etc.
Hooker, Joseph Dalton
Himalaya Mountains -- Description and travel; Natural history -- Himalaya Mountains
To the geologist the Jheels and Sunderbunds are a most instructive
region, as whatever may be the mean elevation of their waters, a
permanent depression of ten to fifteen feet would submerge an immense
tract, which the Ganges, Burrampooter, and Soormah would soon cover
with beds of silt and sand. There would be extremely few shells in
the beds thus formed, the southern and northern divisions of which
would present two very different floras and faunas, and would in all
probability be referred by future geologists to widely different
epochs. To the north, beds of peat would be formed by grasses, and in
other parts, temperate and tropical forms of plants and animals would
be preserved in such equally balanced proportions as to confound the
palaeontologist; with the bones of the long-snouted alligator,
Gangetic porpoise, Indian cow, buffalo, rhinoceros, elephant, tiger,
deer, boar; and a host of other animals, he would meet with acorns of
several species of oak, pine-cones and magnolia fruits, rose seeds,
and _Cycas_ nuts, with palm nuts, screw-pines, and other tropical
productions. On the other hand, the Sunderbunds portion, though
containing also the bones of the tiger, deer, and buffalo, would have
none of the Indian cow, rhinoceros, or elephant; there would be
different species of porpoise, alligator, and deer, and none of the
above mentioned plants (_Cycas,_ oak, pine, magnolia and rose), which
would be replaced by numerous others, all distinct from those of the
Jheels, and many of them indicative of the influence of salt water,
whose proximity (from the rarity of sea-shells) might not otherwise
be suspected.
Illustration--VIEW IN THE JHEELS.
On the 1st of June we entered the Soormah, a full and muddy stream
flowing west, a quarter of a mile broad, with banks of mud and clay
twelve or fifteen feet high, separating it from marshes, and covered
with betel-nut and cocoa-nut palms, figs, and banyans. Many small
villages were scattered along the banks, each with a swarm of boats,
and rude kilns for burning the lime brought from the Khasia
mountains, which is done with grass and bushes. We ascended to
Chattuc, against a gentle current, arriving on the 9th.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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