DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS OF THE RESPECTIVE COALFIELDS. 39 
It was carried to a depth of 250 feet witliout getting tlirough the 
supposed Barakar sandstone. 
The coal-seams are thin, varying from 1 to 6 feet in thickness, 
and of inferior quality. The average analysis of samples from ]3 
localities is : — 
Fixed carbon . . . , . . 42'13 
Volatile matter ;»-50 
Ash 18-37 
Ball ^ who examined the field in 1869-70, estimated that under 
the 70 square miles of exposed coal-measures there is a minimum 
thickness of 5 feet of workable coal, and a total quantity of 210 
million tons of fuel, the whole of which lies at easily accessible 
depths. He adds that there is also a large amount of coal, much 
of which could be worked, lying beneath the trap. 
Nearly 20 years later interest in the economic value of the field 
was revived and between 1888 and 1890 borings were put down by 
the Government of India acting under the advice of Dr. King,^ 
Director of the Geological Survey of India. The experiments were 
confined to the Hura field where five borings were put down in 
the neighbourhood of old outcrop workings at Dakaiti, and further 
east at Semra. The greatest depth attained was 300 feet, and 
although two seams with respective thicknesses of 4 and 16| feet were 
met with yet the inferior quality of the samples of coal obtained 
led to the abandonment of the exploration. 
In 1908 Mr, M. Stuart ^ of the Geological Survey, drew 
attention to a cosd outcrop at Gilhurria midway between the Hura 
and Dhamni fields, indicating the continuity of the coal beneath 
the trap. The quality was inferior. 
In Dr. Oldham's Review * of Indian Coal Statistics for the 
period 1858-1868 returns are given of the output fxom these fields 
for the three years inclusive from 1858-1860. The most important 
mines were in the Hura field, where from two, Hura and Borah, 
a total of about 40,000 tons was extracted in the two years 1859- 
1 Mem., 0. 8. I., Vol. XIII, 155 (1877). 
2 7^g(._^ Q_ ,9. i ^ Vol. XXII, 6 (1889) ; XXIII, 5 (1890) ; XXIV, .3 (1891). . 
Eec, G. S. I., iSXXVIII, pp. 150-151 (1909). 
* Mem., G. S. I., VII, 149 (1869). 
