SOHAGPlJR COAL-FIELD. 



45 



Bakau Nadi seam 3'3". 



The lowest seam is exposed between the villages of Karaibahara and 

 Mariaras in the Bakan Nadi, a tributary on the left side of the Son. 

 It measures 3' 3" at the crop, but will in all likelihood thicken to the deep. 



With the object of determining this circumstance, 

 and the further question of whether it was the 

 probable representative of the Umaria band, I marked a spot for a boring 

 near Chachai, but, for the reasons previously explained as affecting the 

 other sites in the neighbourhood of Sohagpur, my purpose was not ful- 

 filled. A feeling of grateful relief, after a month's close survey, at having 

 found anything like coal, made me at first estimate my discovery of this 

 seam a little too highly. Referring to my field notes, I see that I al- 

 luded enthusiastically to the coal ; a more moderate view gives, I 

 think, a truer idea of its quality. 



The outcrop is confined to the Bakan Nadi, as there is not a trace of 

 it in any of the numerous streams either to the east or to the west of 

 the Son. 



I searched carefully around Mariaras for further signs of coal, but 



Water-borne coal in 1 coultl onl y fiml water-borne fragments in the 

 Suthna Nala. Suthna Nala. I endeavoured to lay my hand on 



the bed that they came from, and spent more than a week in prospect- 

 ing, without obtaining a satisfactory return for my labour. 



The next stream in which there is evidence of coal is the Katua, on 

 the right bank of the Son. In the lower portion 



Katna Nala. & 1 



of its course there are two outcrops near Ramj^ur, 

 but they are scarcely worth recording. In the upper reaches there are 

 Rampur, Mangliehtian, several places in the neighbourhood of Manglichuan 

 Ham, and Manjira. where indications of coal are visible, but with the 



exception of a bed of inferior quality between Harri and Manjira, 

 measuring about 6 feet, none of them exceed 30 inches. 



North of the confluence of the Katna with the Son, we find a belt 

 of productive measures, occurring at about the same horizon as that of 

 the Umaria field. There is one main seam which is something: more 



than 5 feet, and two smaller ones underlying it, 



Good seam of coal. 



varying from 12 to 3U inches. Owing to gentle 



( 181 ) 



