1831.] 
Journey jrom Calcutta to Ghazzpur . 
133 
Beyond Amchatar we pass over a tolerably level country, with a soil of granitic 
debris, in which Kankar occasionally abounds. I had not the opportunity of 
seeing the rock more than twice, exposed in two small watercourses, before reach- 
ing Chass. Once there appeared a distinct passage to sandstone ; a collection of 
small angular grains of quartz and felspar, with parallel scales of mica sparingly 
interspersed, and crumbling under the hand, an appearance which X at the time 
rather attributed to the state of decomposition of the rock, than to any change in 
the formation. The dip here N. E. 
To the north of Chass, we see a detached mountain 1 , rising abruptly out of the 
low country at its base, and distant from us, perhaps, 10 or 15 miles. It can hardly 
reach to a less height than 3000 feet above the surrounding plain, and, from its 
size and appearance, is probably granite or gneiss. 
As we continue to advance from Chass, we see another mountain range fronting 
us, and running from N. E. to S. W. perhaps rather from E. N. E. to W. S. W. 
Its peculiar outlines strongly mark it as being composed of granite or gneiss ; and 
the mountain we see to the north of Chass is probably only an outline from it. 
In this part of our way we begin to observe a change in the rock round us, 
wherever we have an opportunity of meeting with it. It has still a slaty struc- 
ture, with hornblende and not mica ; but before we reach the Damiida it has be- 
come more massive and rugged ; the hornblende, and the rock has partly taken the 
appearance of trap. The dip is yet steady to the east of the north. 
On crossing the Damiida we see the rock exposed on the further bank. It is 
thrown up at a considerable angle, and shows a passage to sandstone, similar to what 
I mentioned having seen before coming to Chass. But on ascending a few yards 
over the edges of the strata, there is no longer any doubt of its nature. Layers of a 
well-defined micaceous sandstone are seen alternating with a bluish and whitish 
shale, loose- and earthy. The dip too has changed to the N. W! 
From this place to Gumeah, a distance of three or four miles, we pass over the 
edges of such strata, mostly small grained yellowish sandstone, not differing much 
from that of the coal strata at Raniganj, except that in this case, shale alternates 
with it but sparingly. 
A little before reaching Gumeah the dip gradually changes from the N. W. to 
the south, and beds of a purplish and blackish shale begin to predominate. In 
going down the last declivity, less than a quarter of a mile before reaching the 
bungalow at Gumeah, I turned aside down a small water course, and was lucky 
enough to find in the slate, some impressions of the reed of Raniganj ; the coal 
strata themselves may probably be found not far to the south. I have been par- 
ticular in naming this locality, as those who have time and inclination to stop at 
Goomeah will be likely to find abundance of remains there*. 
It is impossible to see this shale full, as it is, of the impressions of decayed vegeta- 
bles, and then to look at the country round— widely different from a regular 
granitic formation, but rather as it were, detached pieces of such a formation, 
rising out of the low plains as islands out of a sea ; it is impossible to see this, 
and not remember the theory which supposes the first formation of Europe 
to have been a number of islets composed of primitive rocks, and that in the hollows 
1 The famous Parisnath mountain. — E d. 
s On referring to Mr. Jones’s paper, I see, that though the Damuda, at 7 miles 
above its confluence with the Basacan, shows the primitive rocks in its bed, yet the 
coal formation is continued in the direction of Jeriagerh, and with this our sandstone 
a nd shale is probably united. 
