8 
Records of the Geological Survey of India, 
[voL. xt. 
vision ujion one work. At the close of last working season the Kliappa boring 
bad reached the depth of 720 feet, altogether by hand—another very creditable 
perfornianeo of Mr. Stewart’s. Here again the practical riuestion w'as solved 
for the pre.scnt by the mere faci^ of depth, hlo change of formation occurred 
throughout the boring, so the geological information gained is also limited to the 
bare fact of thickne.ss. As the progress of boring by hand at this depth is so 
slow and costly, I could not, under the circumstances, recommend the prosecution 
of the work. Correspomling trials to these w'ere made in the open valley of the 
Tawa, along the Betul and Hoshangabad road, at Kesla to a depth of 302 feet, 
and at the Suktawa to 241 feet, -with the same result. 
A third class of experiment lay in the attempt to find the coal-measures in 
positions cori-esponding to Mohpani, close to the edge of the basin. The induce¬ 
ment here is that Talchir beds, which are the most freejuent companions of the 
coal-measures, occur at several places along the margin of the field. The special 
objections to this position are the frequent presence of trappoan intrusions and 
the great disturbance of the strata. Three borings were j^ut dowm at Tundni, 
ton miles west of Mohpani. Two of them, at depths of 328 and 172, struck 
trappean and contact-rocks, being evidently on a belt of inti’usive action. The 
third, more to the south, found no change to 24-3 feet, where the tools stuck fast; 
but as the dips were high there was no inducement to renew the attempt. 
At the w esteru extremity of the field, on the IVloran near liokartalai, some 
highly carbonaceous outcrops have long since attracted the attention of explorers. 
A boring put down to the dip of those outcrops, to a depth of 254 feet, has 
shewn that these coaly bands do not improve underground ; and a later discovery 
of fossil plants in these beds has sho^vn that they do not belong to the lower 
Goiidwanas. Two other borings were put down at the lowest point of the section, 
to try the underlying strata ; but at depths of 84 and 88 feet (the holes are 60 
yards apart across the strike) an intensely indurated sandstone was struck, 
in which little or no progi’oss could bo made. It is almost certainly the contact 
bed of an intrusive sheet of basalt, the prosonoc of which wmdd indefinitely reduce 
the pros25ect of success; so the j'roject was abandoned. This position also is 
close to the north boundary of the basin and wdthin the zone of special dis¬ 
turbance. 
Two other trials of this series remain to bo noticed, those close to the patches 
of Talchir rocks. One on the road from Pijjaria station to Pachmarhi, within 
50 yards of the Talchir outcrop, was sunk to a depth of 285 feet entirely in coarse 
mottled deposits of the ujqior Gondwiinas, shewing that their junction with tho 
Talchirs must be exceedingly steej'), if not faulted, and that the coal-measures, if 
present, are beyond easy reach. Another trial, now in progress, on the Anjan, 
close to the road from Bankeri station to Pachmarhi, is also close to an outcrop 
of Talchirs; it has reached a depth of 18G feet, entirely in mottled sandy clay of 
tho Bagra grouji. 
These trials may bo taken as closing for the jiresent the exploration of this 
region of the basin, unless in immediate continuity of the Mohqiani field on the 
Sitariva. Should this fail, the nearest prospect is in the Shahjiur field on the 
south side of the basin. 
