58 RANIGANJ COAL FIELD. [ClIAP. IV. § 2. 



of Samdi. The measures detailed are destitute of workable coal. In 

 the lower portion of the Lower Damudas several seams occur. One 

 said to be about 10 feet thick is seen South of Dendwa and East of 



Lakrajori, dipping sharply toward the fault 

 Coal near Dendwa. 



which passes there. It was once worked, many- 

 years since, by a native. 



The seam worked by Messrs. Erskine and Co., North of Lalbazar, 

 is altogether 18 feet in thickness, of which 10 

 feet is extracted. The coal is hardened by trap, 

 by which a proportion of the seam is rendered useless, and it is, as 

 usual, variable in quality. A smaller seam underlies it. A little to 

 the West of the colliery there is a twist in the strike, and the seams 

 are difficult to trace. 



Another seam is seen just North of Ramnagar, and close to the Ba- 

 rakar, but, like so many others, it is cut up and 

 And Kamnagar. . . 



injured by trap. A second seam, thin and snaley, 



occurs about half a mile South of Ramnagar. Just North of the Jain 

 temples at Bagonia also, close to the spot where the Grand Trunk 

 Road crosses the Barakar, a bed, the thickness of which is not seen, 

 occurs, and has been irregularly quarried. 



West of the Barakar River is an area abounding in coal seams, many 



of them of enormous size. This tract has been by 

 West of Barakar. . . . 



several persons quoted as the most promising and 



valuable portion of the Raniganj field, on account both of the abundance 



and the excellence of the fuel there found. The abundance has not only 



been confirmed, but many seams not previously laid down have been 



mapped by the present Survey. These seams, however, seldom appear 



continuous over the whole area of the field ; they can often not be traced 



