116 MALLET,, VINBHYAN SERIES. 



places it is worked near Sohagi ghat, from whence we believe the supplies 



were drawn for the Jumna bridge at Allahabad. 



The above resources are however of slight importance compared 



. , with the building stone which the upper 



Building stones. ^^ 



Vindhyans fornish. They supply the greater 

 portion of the North -West Provinces and part of the Punjab (besides 

 the immense tract actually covered by these rocks) with stone of an 

 excellence unsurpassed in India, and of which are built the finest 

 edifices and cities of the Grangetic valley. Allahabad, Benares, Agra, 

 and Delhi have all drawn their supphes from thence, and of this material 

 have been erected the proudest monuments of the Mogul dynasty. 

 Akbar, for his palace of Futtipur-Sikri and the forts at Agra and Alla- 

 habad ; Shah Jehan, for portions of the Taj at Agra as well as for the 

 Jumma Musjid at Delhi, and Aurungzeb, for that at Benares, all availed 

 themselves of these resources. Latterly, some of the largest engineering 

 works in India, including the piers of the East Indian Railway bridges, over 

 the Jumna at Allahabad and Delhi, have been constructed of this material. 



The lower Vindhyans supply no stone worth special mention. The 

 main mass of them consists of shale and limestone which is in great part 

 flaggy. What sandstone there is would in places afibrd a good material, 

 but wherever these rocks occur a better is obtainable within a short dis- 

 tance from the Kymores. Besides this, the lower Vindhyans,. both in 

 Bundelkund and the Sone valley, are in a very inaccessible position. 



The Kymore sandstone is worked very extensively. In the neigh- 

 bourhood of Chunar, which is the most easterly point at which the 

 Railway touches this formation, a great number of small quarries have 

 been opened for the supply of places lower down country, and much is 

 also raised near Mirzapur. Large blocks and flags are both procurable. 

 Very superior stone is obtained from some of these. It is fine-grained 

 and homogeneous, usually yellowish- and greyish-white in color, occurring 

 in beds several feet thick and perfectly free for long distances from any 



( 116 ) 



