ECONOMIC RESOURCES. 85 



the hands of their employers. A school is provided at the sole expense 

 of Messrs. Atkinson for all who like to attend. Those who may fall sick 

 receive every care and attention.* 



ORNAMENTAL STONES. 



It has been mentioned on a previous page that the basaltic trap 

 yields agates and chalcedony ; besides these, common opal and various 

 forms of rock-crystal are also abundant. So far as I know, none of these 

 have ever been collected for commercial purposes, and there are no local 

 lapidaries, as at Ratanpur and in other parts of India, to work them up. 



LIME. 



Ordinary kunkur or gutin is found in many places both within and 

 in the country surrounding- the hills. Considerable deposits occur at 

 Sikrigali and Patharghata on the Ganges. Large quantities of lime 

 have been manufactured at these places for export to Calcutta and 

 elsewhere. 



Limestone tuff occurs encrusting the rocks at several places in the 



hills. Its origin was probably due to warm 

 Calcareous tuff. 



springs, which may have been hotter, more numer- 

 ous and more energetic than they are at present. The rock presents a 

 reticulated appearance, which is chiefly due to the twigs and other foreign 

 substances which were enveloped in the calcareous matter. This struc- 

 ture gave rise, no doubt, to the superstition amongst the natives that it 

 was an accumulation of giants' bones {Asahar), and the native account 

 again led to the hope on the part of some of the scientific men of Cal- 

 cutta that the Asahar of the Eajmehal hills would prove to be an accu- 

 mulation of bones similar to the mammalian fossils of the Sewalik hills. 

 Captain Tanner's report in 1835, however, shewed its true character. 



The Asahar of the Rajmehal hills has been manufactured into lime 

 for works at Godda and Nya Doomka. It has even been carried as far as 



* These remarks were written after my visit in 1870. 



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