1870.] The Geological Survey of India. 459 



With his small band of Geologists, the Survey was carried on 

 with vigour, and periodical reports were published, accompanied by 

 maps, geologically coloured, and sections of the country described. 



The value of the establishment was soon appreciated by the 

 public, and numerous applications for reports on geological matters 

 were made, as well as for aid in analyses of coal, minerals and ores, 

 of soils, water, and in assays. Such information and assistance was 

 given to many private individuals, as well as to Government depart- 

 ments and to companies. 



The earlier observations were, as might be expected, fraught 

 with much difficulty. But few and isolated notices, compared with 

 the size of the country, had been written upon it. The labours of 

 Dr. Carter, of Bombay, of the Be vs. Hislop and Hunter, Presby- 

 terian missionaries in Tinnevelly, and some others, had certainly 

 done a little towards paving the way for a classification of the 

 rocks; and Mr. Greenough had, in 1854, after many years' labour 

 in compilation, prepared a map of India, upon which he had 

 depicted all that was then known concerning the geology of the 

 country. 



Dr. Oldham,* however, found it necessary to establish several 

 new groups to receive (provisionally) the various rocks that were 

 met with, inasmuch as for many — and these some of the most 

 widely-extended and important groups of rocks — there was no 

 definite horizon from which to work either up or down. Over 

 thousands and tens of thousands of square miles not a fossil was 

 found, save some vegetable remains, affording, at the best, but very 

 imperfect evidence. The richly fossiliferous rocks of the Himalaya 

 and Sub-Himalaya being widely separated from all the rocks of the 

 Peninsula by the broad expanse of the Alluvium which unites the 

 valleys of the Ganges and Indus, it was impossible to trace out, 

 by their aid, any superposition. 



To endeavour to remedy this, it was found advisable to examine 

 many distinct tracts, and to make more or less rapid observations on 

 distant parts, which, although interfering with the continuous pro- 

 gress of the Survey, were generally of essential service in leading to 

 definite results on important geological points, which, in the ordinary 

 progress of the work, could not have been arrived at for many years 

 to come. 



The climate of India necessarily restricts the work to certain 

 portions of the year. The working season lasts about seven months, 

 and differs very materially in the southern part of the Peninsula 

 from that in Bengal. In the latter district, the close of the Indian 

 financial year (the 31st March) nearly coincides with the close of 

 the field season. In Madras the season is then not half over. 



* See Mr. Hnrner's Anniversary Address to the Geological Society of London. 

 1861. 



VOL. VII. 2 I 



