112 
BALL AND .SIMPSON: COALFIELDS OF INDIA. 
Choi, Aiiock. — Nests of niimmulitic coal near Attock have fre- 
quently excited attention. In 1883 the deposits near Choi, in the 
Chita range, 10 miles south of Attock, were thoroughly examined 
by means of borings.^ No workable coal seam was discovered. 
Dore Valley, Hazara. — In the hilly country of Hazara the 
nummulitic coal horizon frequently comes to the surface. The 
coal seam varies in thickness from nothing up to at least 17 feet, 
and it, together with the containing rocks, is much crushed and 
contorted. 
In 1883 and 1888 drifts were made on the outcrops in the 
Dore ravine and about 7,000 maunds of coal were extracted and 
carried to Abbottabad, where the fuel was used for lime and brick 
burning. The difficulty of transport joined to that of working so 
irregular a deposit was sufficient to render the enterprise a financial 
failure. The analyses ^ of samples taken foot by foot from the 
17-foot outcrop at Begarmul, near Juswal, yielded on the average 
40 per cent, of ash, whilst the best individual sample gave 17 per cent. 
Kalka. — The existence of very thin strings of coal in the Simla 
district has been known for very many years. The best exposure, 
according to C. L. Griesbach,^ is near Kalka, in the valley of the 
Kassaulia stream, about 1| miles up-stream from Tipra, and 
1 mile west-south-west from Datiar Chauki on the Simla-Kalka Road. 
The seam has an average thickness of from 2 to 3 inches, but at 
one point it is from 8 to 12 inches thick. The quality is fair, 
but there is not enough of the fuel to warrant working. 
(xviii). Rajputana. ' 
Palana, Bikanir. — Late in 1896 coal was discovered during the 
sinking of a well at Palana, 13 miles south-west of Bikanir. The 
locality was visited in 1897 by T. D. LaTouche of the Geological 
Survey of India, who reported * that the coal seam occurs at a 
depth of 212 feet from the surface, is from 4 to 8 feet thick, is 
directly overlain by nummulitic limestone, and is, therefore, of eocene 
age. As the country for many miles round Palana is a sandy 
desert, no estimate of the extent of the deposit could be hazarded. 
1 Scott, G. F. : Rec, G. 8. I., Vol. XVII, 73, (1884). 
2 Middlcmiss, G. S. : Mew.., G. S. I., Vol. XXVI, 289, (1896). 
3 Bee, G. S. I., Vol. XXV, p. 7, (1892). 
* Rec, G. S. /., XXX, 122, (1897) ; Gen. Rep., G. 8. I., 1898-99, p. 33, (1899). 
