ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. 193 



data, there is nothing which could properly be called a coal-seam, but 

 merely a mass of lignite not extending much more than 50 yards in 

 any direction. 



The quality is inferior. The mineral is a lignite, brittle, and abound- 

 ing in iron-pyrites, so that rapid decomposition sets in on exposure, and 

 there is much liability to spontaneous combustion. Still if a large 

 quantity could be obtained, some use might be made of this substance 

 as fuel. 



Numerous sections of Banikot beds have been examined in the Laki 

 range without any mass of lignite similar to that of Lainyan having been 

 found. Some highly carbonaceous shale was seen in the lower Khirthar 

 group of the Upper Gaj valley, but the thickness of the bed was only 

 a foot. 



Owing to the want of fuel, it is not probable that the iron ores of 



Sind will ever be largely worked, and their rarity 

 Iron. 



is consequently of small importance. Almost the 



only occurrence noted of the metal, in sufficient quantities to be avail- 

 able for the manufacture of iron, is in the passage beds between the 

 Khirthar and Banikot groups north-west of Kotri, and especially in the 

 neighbourhood of Lainyan (Lynyan) and east of Bandh Vera. The beds 

 are in many places 15 to 20 feet thick, but only a portion of this is suffi- 

 ciently ferruginous to deserve the name of an ore of iron. Masses of 

 magnetite and bands of red and brown hsematite, more or less pure, occur, 

 however, in considerable quantity, in many places. The same bed exists 

 west and south-west of Jhirak, but it does not appear to be so rich in 

 iron as near Bandh Vera. 



Some ferruginous rock also occurs in the beds at the base of the 

 Manchhar group, where the latter rests upon the Khirthar limestone 

 near Bandh Vera and along the base of the Laki range ; but it is doubt- 

 ful whether the deposit is ever sufficiently rich in iron to be of value, 

 especially in the neighbourhood of the locality where a much richer 

 mineral occurs amongst the Upper Banikot beds. 



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