UMAIMA COAL-FIELD. 



23 



than myself, was the first to have his efforts rewarded by the discovery of 

 a few plants of specific lower Gondwaua age. 



Recruiting the services of ray personal servants, and stimulating their 

 zeal by the promise of reward, we eventually obtained several fronds of 

 Glossopteris communis. 



Gangamopteris cvclopteioides, var. attenuata. 

 Noggerathiopsis hislopi. 



None of the fossils were perfect specimens, as they occurred in friable 

 slightly carbonaceous argillaceous shale, which it was difficult to handle 

 in a satisfactory manner, but they were sufficiently distinct to enable 

 Dr. Feistmantel to fix their genera. With the assurance that the proper 

 place of the Umariacoal was with the true or older coal-measures of India, 

 Iliad no hesitation in spending a small sum of money to clear the outcrop 

 and obtain a clean piece of coal. Selecting an average sample from the 

 lower portion of the seam, the percentages of ash, fixed carbon, and 

 water showed so great an improvement on the first analysis, that I was 

 impressed with the desirability of drawing the attention of the Rewah 

 administration to the fact of the occurrence of true coal-measures at 

 Umaria, and that if arrangements could be made 



Borings suggested. 



for practically exploring the field by boring, I 

 should be happy to render what service I could in directing operations. 

 Fortunately for the furtherance of my views, Captain Barr, the Political 

 Agent of Rewah, responded cordially to my suggestions, and within a few 

 weeks of my broaching the plan of operations, the necessary plant was 

 purchased, and Mr. Stewart, who had previously been in charge of the 

 Narbada trial borings, was appointed to test the various sites indicated 

 by myself. There is no mechanical establishment in connection with 

 our own department, and there is no such thing as a grant for independ- 

 ent explorations, so that, had the Political Agent for Rewah put aside 

 my communication, it is probable that the Umaria coal-field would once 

 more have been dropped for a period of years into the shadow of 

 obscurity. 1 



1 It is also certain that if Captaiu Barr had declined to take this matter up, the 

 Government of India would have done so on the stiength of Mr. Hughes' recommenda- 

 tion.— H. B. M. 



( 15!) ) 



