28 
BALL AND SIMPSON : COALFIELDS OF INDIA. 
The coal measures, which are of the same age as the Cherra 
and Lairangao deposits have an area of about 22 acres and are 
found outcropping round the summits of three small knolls. 
The coal seam is occasionally as much as seven feet in thick- 
ness, but the average thickness of good coal is not more than two 
feet ; at which thickness LaTouche estimates that the total 
quantity of coal is about 63,000 tons. The quality of the coal is 
poor, but the seam has been mined to some small extent for lime- 
burning purposes. 
Umhlay river. — This coalfield is situated in the south-western 
Khasia hills. It was fii'st visited by Colonel Godwin-Austen ^ who 
reported that the measures are of Cretaceous age and are persistent 
over a large area. He mentions four seams with a total thickness 
of 20 feet 4 inches of coal. 
In 1883-84, it was visited and reported upon by LaTouche, ^ 
from whose description the following details are taken :^ — ^" The 
coal-bearing rocks are exposed over an area of about 30 square 
miles. They are situated at an average height of 1,500 feet above 
the plains in a roughly triangular plateau, bounded on the north 
by a steep scarp overlooking the river Um Blay. The rocks dip 
to the south-west at about the same inclination (5°-7°) as the 
surface of the plateau, but plunge steeply beneath the alluvium of 
the plains at an angle of 30°. On the Um Plu three workable 
seams occur with a total thickness of 15 feet of coal. In the ravine 
which debouches on the plains near Borsora three seams are also 
exposed, the total thickness of coal being 13 feet 2 inches. Coal is 
also seen near the villages of Nongyon, Nongkerasi, Nongmaotien 
and Lakima." 
Although Mr. La Touche makes no estimate of the total amount, 
it is evident that a very large quantity of coal is available in this 
localitv. From the following analysis of samples from near Borsora 
it appears that the coal is of very fair quality : — 
No. 1 seam, No. 2 seam, 
310". 3'4". 
Moisture 5-84 3-02 
Volatile matter . . . . 35-16 39-58 
Fixed carbon .... 50-40 50-80 
Ash 8-60 6-60 
» Rec, G.S.I , Vol. XXm, p. 1?2 (18!)0). 
» Jour., A-^. Soc. Bcvij., Vol. XXXVIU, pt. 1, p. 1 ;(869). 
» Rec, G.S.I., Vol. XVI, p. 164 (1{?83) XVII, 3 143 (1384). 
