On the asserted Occurrence of Human Bones in the ancient Fluviatile Deposits of the Nile and Ganges; with comparative Remarks on the Alluvial Formation of the two Valleys

Abstract

§ I. F luviatile D eposists of the N ile . 1. General Remarks.—The object of this communication is to bring together the few instances on record of the occurrence of Mammalian fossil remains in the valley of the Nile, and to institute a comparison between the Nilotic alluvial deposits and those of the upper part of the valley of the Ganges which have come under my own observation. Fossil human bones have, according to certain statements, been met with in both of these subtropical valleys; and it may be useful, at the present time, to consider to what general inferences the cases lead, as a guide to future observation. The explorations conducted by the French authorities in Algeria have brought to light numerous remains of Hippopotamus and of other Mammalia, extinct or living, from the later deposits of that part of Africa; but it is not a little singular that the valley of the Nile has heretofore been so unproductive, considering the stream of intelligent travellers which flows up the river every season from Alexandria to the Cataracts, and the not insignificant number of accomplished explorers, German, French, and English, who have traversed the country, as high as the confluence of the “Blue” and “White” rivers, and latterly above it. The alluvial deposits along the banks appear in many places to be developed in great force; and the lowermost present characters which would refer their origin back to a high antiquity. But although fossil wood and shells of land and freshwater Mollusca have