m 



Notices of Books : 



JULT 



ing supplies for the navigation of the Indus, llie Coast of Ma- 

 labar, and the Red Sea. The Nerbudda river extends 700 miles 

 along the very centre of this zone, and coal in three situations is already 

 found on its banks.* The Soane, the Ganges, and the Hooghly, are 

 each intersected by it, and the Bramaputra and probably the Irrawaddi, 

 are extended parallel to it tiiroughout their navigable extent. 



** Now, if on the other hand, this belt had been extended from the 

 Punjab towards the south, scarcely a navigable river but the Indus 

 alone would in such case be approached by it, and the interests of 

 navigation would be as little benefited by the presence of a carboni- 

 ferous zone, as if the valu^ible production by which it is distinguished, 

 were buried beneath the table lands of the Himalaya. It is therefore 

 sufficiently encouraging in this early stage of the enquiry to find the 

 general distribution of coal so favourable, nor need we, as is evident 

 from the Attok and Hurdwar coal, despair of finding supplies availa- 

 ble for the navigation of the northern portions of the Ganges and 

 Indus as soon as enquiries are directed in those remote quarters to the 

 objects here in view." 



The third section of the Report treats of the geological features of 

 that portion of India in which the coal measures occur, and of the dif- 

 ference of level observed therein. At Cherra Ponji a bed of coal is 

 raised on an insulated summit 300 feet above the level of the sea; the 

 accompanying rocks are identical in character with those having a 

 similar relative position to other beds of coal of the same formation, 

 whether above or below the level of the sea. 



" The insulated situation of the coal measures at Cherra Ponji affords 

 an excellent opportunity for their examination, owing to the great ex- 

 tent of surface which is free from soil and alluvium, so that the geolo- 

 gist has no obstacle to encounter but the dense vegetation peculiar to 

 the climate. 



" The great sandstone composing here as elsewhere the base of the 

 coal measures, forms the lofty front of the mountains facing the plains. 



* " By minute surveys which have been made of its course, it appears the Nerbudda 

 is navigable for small craft from the sea to eleven miles above TuUuckwarrah, a distance 

 of more than one hundred miles. Here comes a wild and hilly tract which extends to a 

 distance of ninety miles, in some parts of which the breadth of the river is so diminished 

 and its current so obstructed by rocks and shallows, that its navigation is altogether im- 

 possible. Above Himi-Pahl or Deer's Leap, it is narrow and rapid, but becomes again 

 navigable about fifteen miles below Chiculdah,aad with the exception of a few places where ■ 

 short land carriage might be established, continues so for som.e distance to the eastward 

 of Hoshingabad,"— Vide Cent. lud. vol. 1, p, 5. 



