106 
BALL AND SIMPSON: COALFIELDS OF INDIA. 
be found in the area. The rocks, without exception, belonged to 
formations long anterior to the coal-bearing rocks of India, and 
their lithological and metamoiphosed characters were wholly- 
inconsistent with the idea of coal occurring with them. There was, 
moreover, no more reason for coal occurring there than in any 
other part of the districts where the same rocks are found. 
The Government of Madras accepted with regret the fact that 
Dr. Oldham's exploration and report had proved ''beyond all doubt " 
the non-existence of coal in the valley of the Kistna. 
But the matter was not allowed to drop. Colonel Applegarth 
again and again addressed the Government on the subject, and 
pubhshed letters in English and Indian newspapers, insisting upon 
the existence of a coalfield where the subsequently published geological 
report by Messrs. King ^ and Foote ^ showed it absolutely 
impossible that coal measures should ever have been found. At 
length, in the year 1874, on the suggestion of Mr. H. B. MedUcott, 
then Officiating Superintendent of the Geological Survey of India, 
the Government of India addressed a letter to the Government of 
Madras proposing that Mr. Vanstavern, then engaged on borings 
in the Beddadanol field, should be directed to set the matter 
finally at rest by making borings at points indicated by Colonel 
Applegarth with his own hand on his own map. 
In April 1875 Mr. Vanstavern supplied sections showing the rocks 
passed through in eleven borings at the indicated localities at 
Raveralu and Vadadey. These borings, it is perhaps almost needless 
to remark, did not prove the presence of any rocks younger than 
those seen at the surface nor did they encounter any rock resembhng 
coal. Phoenix-like, this matter will possibly rise under the fostering 
care of some enthusiast who may meet with the early positive 
statements. It is for this reason alone that so much space has been 
devoted to the subject here. 
Godavari Valley. — Although there is an extensive tract of Kamthi 
rocks which may overlie coal measures in the Godavari valley, 
there are only a few points on its margins where they actually crop 
out, and as yet it is not known how far they may extend under- 
neath, nor at what depths the coal would be found if deep borings 
1 iMcm., a. S. I., Vol. VIJJ, (1872). 
2 Special Memorandum on tlie .subject by Mr. Foote, Dcijt. oj A;/ricuUure, Btvenue 
ani Commerce, 1874. 
