TALCHEER COAL FIELD. 35 



very considerable size. One of the largest is the Tikiria, which drains the 

 Northern part of the Talcheer basin, and always contains a considerable 

 quantity of water. In the hills of Rehrakol, where the forests are thick, 

 all the streams flow permanently ; while the sandy nullahs of the more 

 level country are dry, excepting after heavy rains. One of these, the 

 Tengria, having a bed in some places of 150 feet wide, is interesting, as 

 being the stream on whose banks (near the village of Gopalprasad) coal was 

 said to exist in very large quantities. Passing Westward the hills preserve 

 a very similar character, but increase in number and height, until (in 

 Kaun-Hill in the Raj of Rampur) they attain an elevation of 2,200 feet. 



The district is but thinly inhabited, and the greater portion of the 

 more level, and all the rising ground is thickly wooded and covered with 

 dense jungle. The wooded valleys and water-courses are the favorite 

 haunts of many wild animals, where even the bright rays of the mid-day 

 sun can scarcely penetrate the thick shade of their cool retreats. Here 

 are to be found the bison (Bibos Oavifrons), the hog, bear, tiger, 

 leopard, hy^na, wild dog, &c., the sambur, nylghai, with spotted and 

 other deer. 



The character of the country of necessity materially increases the diffi- 

 culties of accurate examination. While the dense wooding and thick 

 luxuriant jungle render it impossible to obtain continuous or satisfactory 

 sections, the deadly exhalations rising from the deep unventilated valleys 

 and ravines, which offer a most tempting shade, render the climate 

 during eight months of the year, most unhealthy and dangerous. 



The country generally may be described as a district of metamorphic 



Geological structure, ^°cks, with Occasional dykes and veins of igneous 

 *"■ origin, and containing basins of sedimentary deposits. 



The whole tract of ground around and between the (so-caUed) Coal Fields, 

 and also the hills of the district, consist essentially of different varieties 

 of gneiss, covered in the low coast country, and in the river deltas, by 

 alluvial deposits. 



