80 EANIGANJ COAL FIELD. [ChAP. IV. § 4. 



II. Singaran Valley. 



The Singaran rises in the extreme North of the area occupied by 



the beds of the Raniganj series. Just beyond its 

 Lowest beds. f 



valley, near Badul, the lowest beds are seen rest- 

 ing on the ironstone shales. They consist of thin-bedded micaceous 

 sandstones, and the same appear frequently at the base of the series 

 throughout, resting on the somewhat sandy black shales, which form 

 the top of the rocks containing ironstone. 



For some miles South of this very little rock is seen. About 1^ miles 



West of the Singaran, a seam of coal crops out 

 Coal at Damudapur. 



in a tank just East of the village of Damudapur. 



Upon this two pits were sunk by a zemindar, and it is stated that 4 or 



5 feet of coal had been cut through, when the quantity of water met 



with stopped the workings. Near this the country is, for the most 



part, covered with laterite. Coal is marked in Mr. Williams's map upon 



the small stream flowing from Nundi, about half a mile from the spot 



where it joins the Singaran. Nothing but carbonaceous shale is seen. 



Reports of the occurrence of coal, and of its discovery by boring, or 

 in tanks and wells, are current throughout the district. To these 

 reports, as well as to statements of its non-discovery, very little credit 

 can be attached.* Nothing is" seen in the Singaran itself, except beds 

 of coarse massive sandstones, and these are only at wide intervals, there 

 being much alluvium. 



Near Chokidanga a better section is seen, some coarse micaceous 

 sandstones, brownish-yellow in color, and containing a small seam of 



* In one instance several wells had been sunk to a considerable depth to try for coal, and 

 on my enquiring from the Gomashta of the Zemindar of the village, who was the ostensible 

 agent, I was assured that none whatever had been found. I made particular inquiries, 

 not only in the village itself, but in others around, for I had previously learned that coal 

 had been found. All my enquiries were fruitless. I was shown the pits, and assured that 

 nothing had been cut. A few months afterwards a colliery was at work upon the spot. 

 I quote this case merely to show the difficulty of obtaining reliable information. 



