418 STEVENSON— INTERRELATIONS OF FOSSIL FUELS. 



the interval. Talchir, without coal, has the same features as in 

 eastern fields ; Feistmantel found fronds and seed vessels of Ganga- 

 inopteris, which he separated from Glossopteris. This plant occurs 

 also in the Barakar. 



The Barakar is only 250 feet thick, whereas in the Jheria field it 

 is 3,300. Coal is confined to a band near the top. At one locality, 

 a boring pierced a seam, 48 feet thick, with 3 benches of coal, 30 

 feet, and 4 benches of coal and shale; coal taken from a bench 15 

 feet thick, proved to be good as fuel, but it splits on exposure and 

 when wetted it crumbles. At another locality, the seam is almost 

 59 feet, with 44 feet of coal, but ash is almost 23 per cent., though 

 there is some "less bad" coal in one portion with only 18. At still 

 another locality, the seam is 81 feet, in two main benches, 37 and 

 32 feet. A specimen yielded 14.5 per cent, of ash. This mass, 

 though generally thick, shows extreme irregularity and in many 

 borings no trace of it exists. Hughes was not prepared to decide 

 whether the explanation is to be found in erosion or in non-deposi- 

 tion, but was inclined to accept non-deposition, for many outcrops 

 show the attenuated border of deposition, containing only shale with 

 ho disintegrated coal. The Barakar coal is bituminous, but, as a 

 rule, it is inferior because high in ash and sulphur. No coal has 

 been seen in the Kamti. No marine fossils have been discovered. 



The southern part of the Sdtpura-Gondwdna Basin is about 140 

 miles north from the last and about 50 miles farther west. Accord- 

 ing to Jones,^'' the Talchir here is as in the fields at the east. Bara- 

 kar coals are present in the numerous petty basins and the seams 

 vary from a few inches to 1 1 feet ; but the thicker ones are divided 

 by clay partings. Occasionally, the coal has a sandstone roof.' 

 Mining is insignificant and there is nothing in the character of the 

 coal to justify exploitation; analyses from six localities showed 17 

 to almost 49 per cent, of ash and only one specimen caked. 



The Narbudda River reaches the Gulf of Cambay on the west 

 coast of Hindostan near the 22d parallel ; the Narbudda District is 

 on the lower part of the river and is west from the Satpura region. 



16 E. A. Jones, " Southern Coal-Fields of the Satpura Godwana Basin," 

 Memoirs, Vol. XXIV., 1887, pp. 1-58. 



