IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 



317 



carboniferous series) along the banks of the river. The first 

 discovery of coal in situ was made by excavations through the 

 sands executed by Mr. Blanford's advice a little below the 

 mouth of the Tal river, where Mr. Wall had been unsuccess- 

 ful. Two of the seams thus discovered were at the village of 

 Lingala, close to the left bank of the river, but unfortunately 

 they dip under the bed of the river, and it would therefore be 

 very difficult to work them. A third seam crops up in the very 

 middle of the river and a fourth was detected by Mr. Vansta- 

 vern on the right bank of the river. The borings were made 

 at Madavaram on the right or south bank of the river, and 

 at Tatpuli on the left bank. The borings showed the 

 existence on the left bank of some 25,000 or more tons of 

 coal, a good part of which might be raised, and the location 

 is most convenient for carriage. 



During the progress of the borings Mr. Blanford extended 

 his knowledge of the geological features by several traverses. 

 He explored the country down to the alluvial boundary near 

 Ellore and E»ajahmundry. Mr. Blanford's place in the 

 Grodavari valley was taken by Mr. King (in 1872), who devoted 

 himself to a more systematic examination of the whole valley. 

 In the course of this season's work he discovered a small but 

 very important basin of the Barakar rocks, containing several 

 coal seams to which he gave the name of the Singareny coal- 

 field after a large neighbouring village. He had previously 

 visited the smaller Kamaram coalfield to the north, which 

 had been discovered by the hill people of the Koi tribe. It 

 contains some two millions and a quarter of tons of coal, but 

 lies in a most out of-the-way region and offers many difficul- 

 ties to economical mining. The Singareny coalfield which 

 covers an area of about 19 square miles has been tested by 

 borings by Mr. Heenan, an officer in the Nizam's service, 

 and shown to be very valuable. When connected with a 

 railway system by which the coal can be conveyed easily to 



