TALCHEEE C!OAL FIELD. 71 



borders of Talcheer and Ungool, in a small nullah, a section of from 

 8 to ] feet is exposed, the bottom of which is composed of the ordinary 

 coarse sandstone of the upper grits, in this case not all ferruginous : 

 this, towards the surface, becomes broken up into rhomboidal frag- 

 ments, which towards the top decrease in size by sub-division, pre- 

 cisely as is so often seen in beds disintegrating near the surface. 

 These sandstone fragments, in proportion to their decrease in size, 

 become more and more impregnated with peroxide of iron, the surface 

 being covered with a brown glaze of the hydrate, while at the same time 

 they all distinctly exhibit a concretionary structure. These fragments form 

 in fact the iron ore of this district, and according to an assay made by Mr. 

 Piddington, contain 66.00 per cent of peroxide of iron. (Cf. Journal of 

 Asiatic Society Bengal, 1855, p. 708.) 



The apparent increase in the proportion of iron contained in the 

 fragments nearer the surface may simply arise from the iron being 

 segregated in the undecomposed pieces from the disintegrated mass, and 

 there may be an equable distribution of iron from the surface to the 

 point at which disintegration commences. Upon this point much light 

 may be thrown by chemical analysis ; this however can but little affect 

 the main facts, which establish incontestably a deposition of iron peroxide 

 in the sandstone from the surface to the depth at which the disinte- 

 grating action of surface water ceases. Towards the surface the appear- 

 ance assumes a new phase, and true laterite is found in small quantities. 



In the soil, where all traces of the original sandstone have disappeared, 

 small nests of peroxide of iron, from g to j inch in diameter, abound, 

 and a certain degree of consistence seems to be given by these to the 

 otherwise friable sandy soil. 



When exposed, this soil appears firmly bound together by the hydrate 

 of the peroxide of iron. To the same soiurce is due the brown glazed 

 appearance of laterite generally, and probably its increase in hardness 

 upon exposure to the action of the atmosphere. 



