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and we consequently find from the measurements of the enterprising traveller already mentioned, that the general breadth of the Spiti was from 258 to 274 feet across.

In October, he states the quantity of water to be less than that of the Sutledge, which being the season when the rigors of winter have begun in Spiti, is exactly a result corresponding to the information derived from the inhabitants of the district.

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After the waters of the Spiti and Paratee rivers have united to form the Lee, the Tartars usually apply to it the name of “Singpho,” which in their language appears to signify "a river"; while smaller streams and muddees, are called "Rokpho," or nullahs. Each river is therefore distinguished by the name of the country through which it flows, or sometimes even by that of a village on its banks. Thus the Lee evidently derives its name from the village of Leeo, and is the "Lee-ka-Singpho"; the Paratee, rising from lake Chummor-rareel, and flowing through Chinese Tartary, is called the "Cheen-ka-Singpho," or "Para-ka-Singpho," derived from the Para or Paralassa mountains; and the Spiti is the "Spiti-ka-Singpho." The word Para signifies lofty, and thus Paratee is literally, "Loftywater," or a river of high source," "tee" signifying water in Kunawur. Paralassa would therefore appear to signify a lofty mountain range, as" Kylas" is known to signify lofty peaks in Kunawur. The Lingtee, a minor stream which joins the Spiti above Dunkur, but of which Gerard makes no mention; and the "Gew" flowing down from Chinese Tartary into the Spiti below Larree, receive the names of "Lingtee-ka-Rokpho" and "Gew-ka-Rokpho" both derived from villages on their banks. After resting awhile beneath the shade of an overhanging rock and refreshing myself with a few hard biscuits, and a drauhgt from the turbid stream, we again set ourselves in motion, and a walk of two or three miles brought us to an extensive piece of level ground, where the guide said we were to encamp, and accordingly we halted, right glad to get a rest and shelter from the sun, in the shade of the rocks around us.

Creeping into the caves which are scooped out by the wandering shepherds as a place of shelter for the night, most of the party soon fell fast asleep, for we had travelled several miles in a temperature of 120°, and the glare from the rapid waters below our path, in conjunction with the heat from the rocks, tended to induce a feeling of langor and fatigue, which from the proximity of the snow on the heights above us, we had little expected to feel. We had thus wiled away about two hours in the arms of Morpheus, when we were aroused

by the noisy arrival of some of the people with my tent and baggage, and proceeding in search of water, we now first ascertained to our dismay that the stream was dry; fuel, too, another most essential necessary, was likewise wanting; so bestowing a few hearty growls on the Tartar for his stupidity, we once more proceeded in search of a snow stream and some bushes.

Luckily we soon came to a spot which furnished the latter, but as there was no stream near we were obliged to content ourselves with the water of the muddy river.

Here then we encamped once more on the hill side, without having seen the vestige of a habitation throughout this second day of our wanderings in Spiti. Around us, however, were plenty of rocks to afford shelter to my people in case of a storm or bad weather, and as the day was fine and warm, we managed to make ourselves tolerably comfortable in spite of muddy water, and a scarcity of fuel, which latter consisted solely of the dried stalks and roots of a small shrub growing among the rocks near us.

During the day's march we had passed over many level tracts of alluvial soils which seemed so well adapted for cultivation and villages, that I remarked to the guide my surprise that so much level land should remain neglected, while so much trouble was expended in Kunawur on strips on the hill side. He replied that many a longing eye had often been directed to these plains, but the difficulty or rather impossibility of conveying water to them, had deterred all from settling there.

These broad alluvial deposits are now all high above the river's course, and from the precipitous nature of the rocky banks within which it is confined, no aid could be derived from it.

Rain is here almost unknown, falling only like angel's visits, and even then so sparingly as to be of no use except to allay the clouds of dust for a few hours.

The only season, then, in which much moisture is obtained, is precisely that in which no vegetation can be produced, namely in the winter months, when falls of snow are both heavy and frequent, and continue often, more or less, from August till the end of April.

Of these broad flats the people would gladly avail themselves could water be procured to irrigate them, and smiling fields and prosperous villages would soon appear where all is now barren and desolate. On similar deposits are the villages of Leeo, Chango, Soomra, and Larree, built where streams flow down from the surrounding heights to fertilize the soil. They are, however, almost all subject to a great

want of manure, and their fields in consequence soon become impoverished, and do not yield a suitable return for the care and labour which are bestowed upon them.

Thus at each of these places, with the exception of Leeo, many fields once under cultivation are now left barren, and their owners have been compelled to seek that subsistence for their families in some more favoured spot, which their native soil denied them. THOMAS HUTTON, Capt.

CANDAHAR,

Assistant Paymaster and Commissariat

8th December, 1839.

Offit. S.S.F.

ART. III.-Notes on various Fossil Sites on the Nerbudda ; illustrated by specimens and drawings.

In the following paper I propose to place on record the progress made in fossil discoveries from Hoshungabad up the Nerbudda river, to Jubulpoor, a distance of some 200 miles.

Hoshungabad has already been brought to the notice of the Society as a large deposit, a field zealously followed up by Major Ouseley, then in charge of that district, by whose exertions the upper jaw now laid before the Society has been brought to light, having served for years, unknown, as a Dhobee's board for washing clothes on, ere a cognoscent eye lit upon it; for at first, it had the appearance only of an oblong square mass of the conglomerate of the river, excepting at one small point, which led to its development and present form. I am sorry to say that some of the teeth were injured in entrusting the chiselling to a country gentleman, whose geological notions of matrix and fossil, were not matured. The teeth of this elephantine head are thought by a friend of mine, to belong to that species denominated African.

The second specimen laid before the Society, is that of a slender tusk, imbedded in the conglomerate of the river, the several pieces of which, joined together, amount to a length of five feet nine inches and a half. To what animal did this belong? The portion of tusks of elephants that we possess, being at least treble the present in circumference.

Next are drawings No. 3 and 9, frontal and base of a Buffalo skull, from the same locality; exhibiting in one, the condyles of the foramen magnum, orbit; portion of horn, and general base of the skull; the other shewing the massy forehead, (nearly eleven inches between the orbits), and angle of the horn in contrast with the Bovine skull to be noticed hereafter.

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Found at Heerapoor onthe Bhopal and Chourputhur Boundary

N. or right bank Nerbiáda River:

A to B 171⁄2 inches For Mag. 1% in. –
Costerior left molar E badth 120 in. –
ditto lagth 1 to in....
Breadth between orbits 72 in. –

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