36 
BATJi AND STMPSON: COALFIELDS OF INDIA. 
mile in width and extending from Pankabari nearly as far as 
Dalingkot. This is doubtless the same belt of rocks as is found 
occurring in the Aka and Daphla hills on the north of the Brahmaputra. 
Although subject to many minor contortions, the general dip 
of the rocks is to north-north-west at angles of from 40° to 90° ; and as 
a result of the crushing to which they have been subjected the 
sandstones and shales have been frequently converted into quartzites 
and slates or even schists ; whilst the coal has been crushed to 
powder and has lost a large proportion of its volatile matter, 
approximating to anthracite or graphite in composition. 
Tn 1873-74 Mr. F. R. Mallet^ examined the deposits and, 
after making a number of excavations and experiments in coking 
and briquetting the fuel, expressed the opinion that there was 
little hope of working the coal at a rate less than, or even at one 
not exceeding, that at which Raniganj coal could be laid down at 
the foot of the hills. The best seam discovered by Mr. Mallet 
outcrops near Tindharia, and is 11 feet in thickness. He found 
that only the coal from one locality was of coking quality. 
In 1890 Darjeeling coal once more attracted attention and Mr. 
P. N. Bose ^ was deputed to the locality. His explorations 
were confined to an area 2^ miles in length by f mile in breadth 
situated between the Lisu and Ramthi rivers. A large number of 
thick seams were found and Mr. Bose calculated that 20 million 
tons of coal of good coking quality were available. Subsequently 
the same ofl&cer examined the entire Damuda area between Panka- 
bari and the Tista river, but no further promising seams were 
discovered. The first and only attempt to work the coal on a 
commercial scale was undertaken by a Calcutta firm in 1896. A 
colliery was established at Baling and, until the abandonment of the 
enterprise in 1900, a total quantity of 7,231 tons of coal was raised. 
The following analyses of the coal have been made in the 
laboratory of the Geological Survey of India : — 
Averase of Average of 
5 samples. 8 samples. 
Volatile matter .... 9-20 22-94 
Fixed carbon .... 70-66 59-56 
Ash 20-14 17-42 
The occurrence of Gondwana coal-bearing rocks in the Himalayan 
foot-hills considerably enlarges the area over which these rocks 
1 Mem., G. /., Vol. XI (1874) ; Bee, G. S. I., Vol. X, p. 143 (1877). 
2 Bee, G. S. I., Vol. iXXlIl, p. 237 )1890) ; Vol. XXIV, p. 212 (1891). 
