4. '30 Remarks on Miscellaneous Subjects. 



but it wants the metallic kind of polish of that variety ; it appears 

 however, as far as we can judge from specimens, to be sufficiently fissile 

 for roofing purposes ; and if so, Mr. Stewart will we doubt not find a 

 large demand for it. A white soft earthy limestone or chalk, also oc- 

 curs, which is the only instance we know of any mineral like chalk 

 having been found in India ; this article, as well as the limestone, will 

 be useful in many branches of art, particularly agriculture, building, soap 

 boiling, the reduction of iron ores, &c. The lithographic stones are grey, 

 and reddish yellow, the latter is of course the best, for the nearer these 

 stones approach to the colour of white paper, the better they are ; for 

 then the impressions are better seen on them. We hope Mr. Stewart, 

 will be able to render us independent of Europe for an article of such 

 increasing utility in India, for lithography is almost the only kind of 

 printing here practised. 



A very excellent black marble has also been found by Mr. Stewart, who, 

 we hope will also succeed in finding quarries of other kinds, which will 

 save us from importing an article at once useful and ornamental for vari- 

 ous purposes from Europe, and we believe China. Nothing restricts the 

 demand in India for marble pavements, baths, tables, and other articles 

 of furniture and ornament so much as the exorbitant price attending its 

 importation from distant countries, while India itself abounds in so many 

 varieties of the most beautiful native marbles. To the above list of useful 

 minerals we have to add, red and yellow ochre and coal. The latter is 

 situated at some distance in the interior, near the village of Kotah, and 

 is that which is referred to by Captain Wroughton in the notes from the 

 proceedings of the Coal Committee;* the samples of this coal already 

 furnished are very promising, though quarried by ignorant natives. The 

 specimen contained in Mr. Stewart's collection of useful minerals is, 

 however, a fair sample, of which the following is an analysis : — 



Specific gravity, 1.29 



Inflammable matter, ... 54. 



Carbon, 32.2 



Earthy matter, 13.8 parts in 100. 



Mr. Stewart remarks that the Government have already opened a road 

 for a considerable distance into this new and valuable district ; we 

 trust the road will be extended not merely into it, but throughout the 

 whole tract, and that it will be rendered fit for wheeled carriages. 



* We have been compelled from want of room in our present number to postpone the pub- 

 lication of the paper alluded to, but we shall endeavour to insert it in our next. — Ed. Cal. Jour. 

 Nat. Hist. 



