H6 M11)I)1J:MISS: T1J1' CKOLOGY OF IDAR STATE. 



the non-metallic group and are principally of the nature of bedded 

 or banded deposits : — 



Abrasives : The only abrasives, besides garnet sand (which 

 can be obtained in many of the stream beds) are mill-stones, which 

 are made for local use at several places from mica-schist and quartz- 

 schist, and hones from the Mundeti Series, near Malasa, which 

 are exported to a small extent (see p. 59). The Ahmednagar 

 sandstone in its finer and harder varieties may make a good material 

 for whetstones and circular grindstones. 



Ahmednagar Sandstone : See Building Materials, etc. 



Allanite : See Rare Earths. 



Asbestos : See Magnesian Minerals. 



Bowenite : See Magnesian Minerals. 



Building Materials and Clays : Idar State contains abund- 

 ant building materials and clays of many kinds, ranging from the 

 beautiful pale grey and reddish granite slabs of the Idar granite to the 

 kaolin of the Sabarmati River near Eklara and elsewhere. Demand 

 for these materials in India now-a-days is chiefly from a utilitarian 

 point of view, and confined to the larger towns and cities of India 

 and for roads and railways. Impure marbles and coccolitic marbles 

 from all the calc-gneiss areas, and good limestone from Bhetali 

 and the neighbourhood would doubtless afford much ornamental 

 stone if there were any demand for it. At present such material is 

 merely used on the railway locally for bridge- work, and was formerly 

 used in temple building as at Bhetali. Of clays, besides the ordinary 

 clays for brick-work, which are sufficiently abundant, mention 

 may be made of the kaolin of Eklara and many other places, which 

 is identical with that on the other side of the Sabarmati River in Baroda 

 State recently extracted to a certain extent. Its chief uses of course 

 are other than for building purposes, and from this point of view 

 it is reasonable to believe that large supplies of good material can 

 be obtained from the surface disintegrated layers of the Idar granite, 

 where they have been preserved from destruction at the base of the 

 Ahmednagar Sandstone by cappings of the same, or by thick alluvium. 

 It would doubtless be advisable for the State to keep these deposits 

 in mind, and, hi the absence of special initiative, to watch the 

 progress made hi development of these same deposits by the neigh- 

 bouring State of Baroda. At some time or other in the industrial 

 growth of India it seems quite likeiy that these kaolin deposits 

 may become a not unimportant asset in connection with the mami- 



