4 
2 BALL: CHOPE COAL-FIELD. 
His account of it is as follows :— 
* About three miles to the westward of Belhargudda, on a branch 
* of the Mohani Nuddee, there is a small deposit of coal of very 
<“ poor quality.” 
Although this was the first instance of coal measure rocks being 
found on any of the plateaus of Chota Nagpür,* they had been met 
with previously at an equal elevation by Mr. Medlicott, * capping the 
* isolated Madaghir hill, which lies three miles to west of the Káranpürá 
<“ field, and about four miles north of the table land.” + 
The economic importance attaching to the occurrence of coal so 
near the station, and the bearing which this discovery exercises on the 
general hypothesis as to the origin of, and connection between, the 
several coal-fields, combined to render it desirable that the locality 
should be visited and reported upon by a member of the Geological 
Survey at the earliest opportunity. Accordingly pursuant to my in- 
structions I visited the Chopé coal when proceeding to my season’s 
work in Sirgája and Odeypur. 
The area occupied by the coal measures and underlying Talchirs 
which constitute the Chopé coal-field is of an 
me irregular triangular shape, covering about three- 
fourths of a square mile. It is thus the smallest detached coal-field 
known in India, being smaller than the one near the village of Mehur- 
pur, six miles north-east of Suri in Birbhum. 
The coal-field is approached from Hazaribagh by a road which, 
for the most part, passes over alluvium, but in its vicinity there are 
* There are in Hazáríbágh two coal-fields north of the plateau, Kurhurbari and Itküri, 
and four south of it, Bokaro, Ramgurh, and North and South Káranpürá. Subsequently to 
the discovery of the Chopé coal, Mr. W. T. Blanford was informed by the Raja of Jushpür 
that coal existed in his district, which would be at an elevation as great, possibly greater 
than that of the Hazaribagh plateau. This locality has not yet been visited. 
+ MSS. 
( 948 ) 
eS 
