102 
BALL AND SIMPSON: COALFIFLDS OF INDIA. 
Commissioner of Hazara. The occurrences are of no economic 
importance. 
(xv). Madras and Southern India. 
To the great importance which an accessible supply of good coal 
would possess in Madras is no doubt to be attributed the number 
of discoveries in that part of India of so-called coal seams, which 
on investigation by qualified experts have in most cases proved to 
be something very different from what the enthusiasm of the 
discoverers led them to believe. These discoveries, which were 
calculated to, and did, stimulate the interest of the Government and 
of the public, gave rise to a large amount of literature, whether in 
the form of original descriptions with the speculations dependent 
thereon, or of subsequent correspondence. As this literature still 
exists it is right that it should be noticed here. The statements 
made in one volume must be placed side by side with their refutation 
in others. If this were not done the former might be a cause of 
trouble and confusion in the future when all memory of the refutation 
had passed away. As a rule the extravagant speculations of 
enthusiasts find a more ready circulation than do the more matter- 
of-fact and often less sanguine opinions of experts. 
As evidence of the thoroughness with which search has been 
made in the Madras Presidency the following are not without 
their value. It would surprise and amuse the reader were a list made 
of all the heterogeneous substances whose presence has been stated 
to afford " favourable indications " of the presence of coal. 
Malabar and Travancore. — A carbonaceous deposit, which was 
discovered at several points along the Malabar Coast by Captain 
Newbold ^ and General Cullen," having given rise to a supposition 
that coal might be found close by, may be most conveniently 
described here. 
The first exposure of this bed described by Captain Newbold 
was seen in the bank of the Bepur river within the range of the 
tide. It was a lenticular mass varying in thickness from 5 feet 
down to 2 inches. Portions were laminated and earthy ; others 
seemed to consist wholly of carbonized woody matter ; the colour 
varied from greenish to jet black. In places shells were imbedded. 
The further description mentions carbonized trunks and branches 
1 Madras Jour, ol Lit. and iSci., Vol. XI., p. 239. 
2 Op. el vol. cit., p. 242. 
