18 THE COAL OF ASSAM. 



coal ; but it is quite at the base of the range. It is probable tbat the 

 band soon becomes altogether depressed. 



The low hills about Cheryedo, east of Nazeerah, are, as usual, so 



deeply coated with soil derived from the decom- 

 Begion of the Dikhoo. 



position of the subjacent rocks, that nothing I 

 can call a section is obtainable. From the evidence of the occasional 

 debris I infer them to be of Sub-Himalayan rocks. It may be worth 

 notice that on Dolbugan, the most north-westerly of these hills, this 

 debris in-situ resembled the Terap sandstone rather than that of the 

 younger series. At the entrance of the gorge of the Dikhoo, and for 

 some way up, there are good sections of the massive, clear, gray, sand- 

 stone and mottled clays of Sivalik type, having a high dip to east 30° 

 south. This strike would about take them into the hills of Cheryedo. 

 I conjecture that the coal marked on some of the maps close to this 

 may be only the lignite, which is as much scattered through these rocks 

 on the south as on the north of the Bramahpootra Valley. The coal I 

 was taken to see is some miles in, near the crest of one of the higher 

 ridges, a short way north of the Naga village of Kangan. It was 

 formerly worked, I believe, by the Assam Tea Company. The position of 

 this pit is quite enough to account for its being abandoned. The 

 workings have fallen in, and the outcrop is completely covered, so that 

 I could see nothing of it. I noticed, however, that the sandstone 

 which is freely exposed at many places on the ridge, is all like the rock 

 of the Terap; only coarser, being often sub-conglomeritie. I could 

 see nothing of earthy rocks. Both these symptoms are indications of 

 original diminution of the coal-measures in this direction. I would 

 scarcely think of noticing such isolated observations were it not that 

 they concur with the general features of the whole hill region. Be- 

 tween the Dikhoo and Gabaroo, the low hills seem to be entirely formed 

 of the Sub- Himalayan rocks. Near Deopani I was taken by a planter to 

 see a " coal bed ;" we could, however, only find nests of lignite. But it 

 should not be forgotten that the coal is contiguous to these rocks, and 

 ( 404 ) 



