part 3 .] Ball: Building and Ornamental Slones of India. 
1 I I 
Higher in the Vindhyan series the Bander group includes a limestone which is not only 
used as a source of lime, but as a building stone in the Dumoli district, where it is preferred 
to the lower sandstone; the same is said to be the case in the vicinity of Nimacli. 
Some of this stone was reported on favorably for lithographic purposes, but it has never 
come into use. 
In several parts of Bengal occupied by the metamorphio rocks limestones occur, but 
they are in general too much impregnated with foreign minerals to be of use either as build¬ 
ing stones or as sources of lime. 
In the neighbourhood of the Kkasi Hills the so-called Sylhet limestone is extensively 
manufactured into lime for the Calcutta market. The principal factories are at Chatak and 
Sonamganj, and along the banks of the river Surma between these two villages. The 
quarries are “ near the village of Tungwai or Tingye, from which tho stone is brought to the 
neighbourhood of Pondua and to Chatak. Other very large quarries are in the vicinity of 
the great orange groves between Teria-ghat and Lacat, from which also the stone is con¬ 
veyed to Chatak for burning.” This limestone is of nummulitic age. 
Under the head of marble will be found a notice of tho portions of it which come 
under that denomination. How far it has been used as a building stone, locally, I have no 
information, hut there is no reason to doubt that good building stone eoukl be obtained. 
In Western India limestones occur in the metamorphio and the Bijour series; they 
are, however, usually too silicious to be employed in the manufacture of lime, and I can 
find no notice of their being employed as building stones ; hut some of the highly calcareous 
Bagh beds and the nummulitic limestones of Guzevat are used to a certain extent. Regard¬ 
ing the latter, Mr. W. T. Blanford says : “ It is difficult to obtain it in large masses, or to 
trim it neatly. It is employed by the natives for bowries, temples, &c., other compact calca¬ 
reous beds being nsod for the same purpose.” 
In the north-west of India the limestones of the Lower Himalayas are, some of them, 
applicable to building purposes, and “some fit for ornamental or monumental purposes 
might be found among tho thick-bedded, hard limestones of the Krol group.” 
The lime in this area is chiefly made from a porous tufa, which occurs along the flanks of 
the limestone ridges. 
In Southern India limestones of at least three distinct geological periods are used as 
building stones. The oldest of these are the crystalline limestones of the metamorphio 
series. At Coimbatore there is a limestone belonging to this series which has attracted some 
attention, as it would make a good building stone as well as being a source of lime ; while 
portions are highly ornamental, as is mentioned under the head of marble. This limestone 
is described by Mr. Blanford in the Memoirs of the Geological Survey, and at greater length 
in the Madras Journal of Science. Mr. King also, in his Geology of Trichinopoli, mentions 
this rock and gives some additional localities. He states that it has been used as a building 
stone in connection with the Madras andBeypur railway, and has given complete satisfaction. 
The two series of metamorphosed rocks occurring in Southern India, and which are 
known by the names Kadapa and Karnfil, each contain limestones. For building pur¬ 
poses those of the latter seem to be the most important. The Karnul series belongs, it 
is considered, to the same general age as the Vindhyan of the northern parts of India. 
Mr. King remarks in reference to these rocks. “ Tho limestones, where they are at hand, have 
been largely used by tho people of the country, the larger villages in the Khoond-air valley 
having their better houses built of well-selected and dressed Nergee beds, while the wells 
of the Kadapa and this valley are all lined with this stone.” Mr. King anticipates that the 
railway and canals will tend to dcvclopc the use of these building materials. 
