10 ball: geology of the rajmehal hills. 



In a paper on Indian Coal by Mr. J. Prinsep* an analysis of coal 

 J. Prinsep, Esq., 1831. from the Bhagulpur district is given with the 

 following' note : — " The so-called Bhagulpur coal was discovered in 1829 

 " by Captain Turner in a seam near Patsandah to the west of Raj- 

 " mehal, and in the same range of hills. There is a good road from 

 " Colgong to Patsandah during the hot weather, and during the rains 

 " a hill stream is navigable for a considerable part of the way. Patsandah 

 " is distant twenty- five miles from Colgong, the nearest point on the 

 " Ganges. The coal is loaded there at 4 annas per maund, but what 

 ,f has been hitherto extracted has proved very bad." 



Captain Tanner was deputed to visit Asurni, the locality where the 

 Captain Tanner, I835.f Asurhar described by Dr. Buchannan occurs, 

 with a view to ascertaining whether it could be made available as a source 

 of lime. He writes : " The lime from this species of tufa was considered 

 "so good that the Superintendent (of Building) wished for a large quan- 

 " tity for the purpose of white-washing, but the cost of transit across 

 " the hills was too great •" for this reason, a Mr. Christian, a Polish mer- 

 chant of Monghyr, was also prevented from using it. 



At the time the Coal Committee's report for 1838 was written, two 

 Coal Committee, 1838. localities only were known where coal had been 

 discovered in the Rajmehal hills. The first being at Sikrigali, or 

 rather the Motijharna falls ; and the second at Hura. 



In the Committee's report for 1841, the above-mentioned localities are 

 Coal Committee, 1841. again alluded to. Some doubt appeared to have 

 arisen about the existence of the coal at Motijharna. Regarding that 

 from Hura, the Committee writes : " At Hurrah large quantities of coal 

 " have been extracted, but although we have every information relative to 

 " the working and expense of conveying this coal to the river, yet our 

 "knowledge regarding the material circumstances under which it occurs 



* Gleanings in Science, III, 1831, pp. 283-4. 

 f Journal, Asiatic Society, Bengal, IV, pp.707-8. 

 ( 164 ) 



