58 
Records of the Geological Survey of India. 
[VOL. VII. 
Britain and other countries. But there are places where coal and bituminous shales may 
be profitably submitted to distillation, and I believe that our Indian coal-fields offer a fair 
chance. 
The yield of crude oil from a ton of ordinary coal* does not usually exceed a maximum 
of 75 gallons, and a coal which will yield 50 gallons may be regarded as an excellent 
article, provided it affords coke enough to supply heat for its own distillation. 
Raniganj, o 
1st December 1873. j 
Coal in toe Gabo Hills, by Mr. II. B. Medltcott. 
The reported discovery of a new coal-field in the interior of the Garo hills, backed up 
by the proposal to run a railway through them into Assam, led to a very urgent demand to 
have the rocks of that region examined. Although nearly encircled by long-settled and fertile 
districts of the upper deltaic plains of Bengal, that hill-tract has, till within the last three 
years, remained perfectly secluded in primitive savagery. Partly to remove such an 
anomaly, and pai'tly to put a stop to the occasional practice of the Garos capturing slaves 
and taking trophies of human heads among the hordering plains people, it was decided to 
bring the hill-men under control. This intention was carried out without serious difficulty. 
The people had of course been long acquainted with the character and power of the white men 
holding sway over the plains, and submitted to their supremacy almost without resistance. 
This year I had the pleasure to march through the length and breadth of the land in the com¬ 
pany of an English lady, the wife of the Deputy Commissioner of the district, Captain 
A\ illiamson, the subduer and friend of the Garos, who made his tour ot inspection through his 
dominions to fit in with my geological explorations. In the previous season topographical 
surveyors had accompanied the several expeditionary parties sent in to take possession ; and 
had succeeded in completing an excellent sketch map of the whole area. One of these officers 
heard of the coal, and brought it to notice. It would seem that no European actually visited 
the spot; indeed the description first given of the position could hardly have proceeded from 
an eye-witness; but samples were procured, and thus the bare fact of coal being there was 
sufficiently authenticated. The confirmation of the existence of a considerable coal-field 
in the position thus indicated, warrants brief notice of the situation. 
It will probably be remarked that Garo-liill coal is at least familiar by name. In 1841, 
Mr. Bedford, engaged on the revenue survey of the Goalpara district, brought to notice 
what he called the Kurribari coal-field, at the extreme west end of the Garo hills, close to Sing- 
mari on the old Bramaputra. Some attempt was, I believe, made at the time to work it; and 
the failure of the experiment does not seem to have been fairly attributed to the failure of the 
deposits. Again, about two years ago, the civil officers of Mymensing brought to the notice of 
Government the occurrence of coal on the Sumesary river at the south base of the main range 
of the Garo hills. The extension of the Eastern Bengal Railway towards Assam was then a 
pressing question ; and I was deputed to report upon the prospects of the coal deposits, 
particularly those of the Kurribari region, the position of which, dose to the great river, 
gave them special importance. In April 1868 the result of my observations was reported to 
the Government of Bengal: the existence of a fair seam of useful coal at Siju on the 
Mimes ary was confirmed, the present value of it being questioned, on account of difficulty of 
access from the plains across some ten miles of low rugged hills. Of all the known outcrops 
in the Kurribari region, at Mirampara and Champagiri, a most unfavorable account had to 
* Carmel coals and bituminous shales yield as much as 120 to 130 gallons of crude oil per ton, but they produce 
on coke of any value. 
