[part I. 



Chapter IX. — Economic resources. 

 The coal of the Jurassic rocks of Kuteh attracted some attention 

 formerly ; but the quantity found appears to have 

 been always too limited and the coal too impure 

 to have encouraged its being worked extensively. 



The workings at Trombow were the largest, but are now closed by 

 the falls from the roof of the adit. Mr. Blanford, however, was able 

 to measure the seam ; the dimensions of which, 1 foot 4 inches, included 

 so much shale that only 8 inches was found to be good coal. Several 

 other seams are stated to have been found, chiefly in the neighbourhood 

 of Seesaghud (Colonel Grant^s paper) ; but all too thin to repay the cost of 

 working. Carbonaceous shale with coaly layers occurs in the river north 

 of Seesaghud ; and a coaly shale of which 3 feet was visible, was found in 

 a stream course west of Gooneeri, near Lukput. The coal occurred as 

 usual in thin bright layers between the laminse of the shale, bearing 

 a strong resemblance to some found north of the old workings at 

 Trombow, and perhaps lying on nearly the same horizon. 



None of these coals seem to have been valuable ; and even if the 

 beds were thick, the intermixture of shale would be against them 

 while the frangibility of that found near Seesaghud is said by Grant 

 to have been such that it fell through the gratings of the furnaces. All 

 that has been seen in the district, broke up into minute fragments 

 on exposure, and no piece of even an inch square could be extracted 

 from the beds. 



The most clearly seen sections indicated rapid thinning out of the coaly 

 portions, so that the existence of extensive workable deposits seems 

 more than doubtful, if not altogether hopeless. 



A few thin carbonaceous layers of shale have also been met with 

 in the tertiary beds but none of them were at all promising. 



( 86 ) 



