556 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAl/ SOCIETY. [JuilC 13, 



ing any of our Indian coal-measures, I was inclined to regard them 

 as the equivalents of our argillaceous strata marked e ; but having 

 recently enjoyed this privilege, v^^hile out on a mission tour with my 

 friend the Hev. R. Hunter, I propose to communicate the modifi- 

 cations which have, in consequence, been wrought on previously- 

 formed views. 



Our tour extended about 120 miles N.N.W. of the city of Nagpur, 

 — a distance which carried us past the carbonaceous strata near 

 Umret, as far as the bituminous shales at the south base of the 

 PachmatZi or Mahadewa Hills. These localities had both been visited 

 by Dr. Jerdon and Lieut. Sankey in 1852, and the results of their 

 investigations have been laid before your Society*. 



The coal-field of Umret is about five miles north of the village, 

 near a small hamlet dignified with the name of Bari, or Great, 

 Barkoi, to distinguish it from Chhoti, or Little, Barkoi, which lies 

 three-quarters of a mile to the south. Leaving Umret, the traveller 

 passes over granite for about a mile, when he begins to ascend trap- 

 hills, which continue, with only a slight reappearance of plutonic 

 rock in the low ground near Tawari, until within three-quarters of a 

 mile of Chhoti Barkoi, where they end in an abrupt descent, at the 

 foot of which there emerge beds of sandstone, that constitute the 

 surface-rock to the rivulet at Bari Barkoi. This stream has cut a 

 passage through the sandstone, and laid bare the dark-coloured 

 strata underneath, which are seen to dip at an angle of 5" to the 

 W.S.W., — the direction in which the water flows. The exposure 

 displays the following succession : overlying sandstone, about 50 feet 

 thick; coal, 1^ or 2 feet; argillaceous shale, 3 feet; bituminous 

 shale, 1 foot ; arenaceous and micaceous shale, 3 feet , and white 

 sandstone, depth unknown. 



On observing the strata, and the order in which they occurred, I 

 remarked to Mr. Hunter, that the shale would probably turn out to 

 be the representative of the fissile sandstone, abounding in fossils, 

 that is so well developed at Kampti, Silewa/^a, Bokhara, Bharatwac?a, 

 &c. In hazarding this conjecture, I took it for granted that the 

 overlying rock was the common sandstone of this country, which is 

 for the most part traversed by iron-bands. Search having been 

 made, the iron-bands, though not of the typical character, were dis- 

 covered. So far the hypothesis was confirmed. 



Additional light was thrown on it by examining the circumstances 

 under which the argillaceous and bituminous shales are met with at 

 the Mahadewas. The sandstone forming the mass of that mountain- 

 range must be about 2000 feet thick, and presents a line of bold 

 mural crags, extending E. and W. for upwards of twenty-five miles. 

 The front of the precipice is towards the south, while the strata dip 

 at an angle of 5° to the north, or, more correctly, N.N.E. However 

 much the thickness of these arenaceous beds exceeds that of the 

 ferruginous sandstone in the immediate neighbourhood of Nagpur, 

 there can be no doubt that both rocks are the same, as both possess 

 the same iron-bands, which I consider positive evidence of identity, 

 * Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. x, p. 55. 



