244 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. 



A description of the previously unsurveyecl basins of Palamau 

 was given by Mr. Ball in Vol. XV. of the Memoirs. 



Palamau had attention directed to it about 60 years ago, when 

 the object was to open out the coal-fields then known to exist, and 

 so to obtain a supply of cheap fuel for the steam navigation of the 

 Ganges. To meet this demaud the Daltonganj field was worked 

 by the Bengal Coal Company up to the time of the mutiny, when 

 the works were attacked by the rebels and destroyed. On the 

 completion of the main canal, the question of connecting the 

 Palamau fields with the Bast Indian railway arose, and an examina- 

 tion of the coal and iron ores available became necessary. Mr. Ball 

 speaks highly of the coal from the Daltouganj field, which has 

 great heating power and is admirably adapted for steam purposes; 

 that from the other two fields of the Palamau basin, the Aurunga 

 and Hutar, being of only average quality. The Aurunga field is, 

 however, the only locality where there are iron ores and limestone 

 suitable for iron manufacture. 



The Rajmahal hills, which are described by Mr. V. Ball in 

 Vol. XIII. of the " Memoirs " are of complex geological structure, but 

 the mutual relations of the several rock groups within their limits 

 have supplied a useful key to the geological problems of far distant 

 localities. Amongst other notable features in this area are some 

 curious examples of radiating columnar trap,* while at least two 

 varieties of laterite occur. The coal found is inferior to that of 

 a large series of Raniganj coal, but it can be easily worked, though 

 the difficulties and cost of transit to rail and rivers, render it 

 unavailable except to stations in the immediate neighbourhood. A 

 considerable variety of rocks suitable for building purposes exists 

 in the Rajmahal hills, while the basaltic trap is capable of affording 

 an inexhaustible supply of road material. Clays suitable for 

 pottery and iron also occur. 



The geology of the district of Manbhum, which lies about 

 120 miles west of Calcutta, and of Singhbhum, which is situated 

 to the south of Manbhum, is also described by Mr. V. Ball (in 

 Vol. XVIII. of the Memoirs). The tract abuts on the headlands 

 (as they may be called) of the eastern frontier of the rocky and 

 elevated country of western Bengal, the headlands themselves being 

 lapped round by the Gangetic alluvium, which spreads over Lower 



illustration lacing page 60, latter pprl of Vol. XIII. of " Memoirs of Geological 

 Survey of India." 



