6 
Records of Ihe Geological Survey of India. 
[vol. VIII. 
Mr. V. Ball only returned from the great exhibition at Vienna, where he had been, 
jointly with Mr. W. King, in charge of the valuable collections of the Geological Survey, 
late in the year. After some few unavoidable delays which prevented his getting to the 
field till towards the end of December, he was again frequently interrupted in his work in 
connection with the borings in the Dudhi valley. His survey labours were confined to the 
country included in sheets 17 and 18 of the Satpura Survey. He had made some progress 
in this area, when at the beginning of March, he was suddenly summoned to Calcutta, with 
a view to his accompanying some others on a visit to the Mergui Archipelago. This trip 
was subsequently abandoned, nor indeed under any circumstances could geological results 
of interest be looked for from such a visit to a country already examined. It was useless 
his returning to the field again after this trip was given up. Mr. Ball had thus only a 
very brief season of work, scarcely more than two months out of the whole season. It 
would scarcely be fair to look for any large outturn of work in this short time. The ground 
on which ho was engaged was difficult, and the intricate relations of the various groups 
of rocks must all be more thoroughly elucidated and worked out before any descriptive account 
of them can be published. 
Mr. Ball subsequently visited the wild district of the Luni Puthans, west of Upper Sind, 
where some traces of lignite had been seen. A full account of this visit has already appeared 
(Records, Geol. Surv., Ind., 1874, p. 145), so that it will be unnecessary to refer to it here in 
detail. 
The experimental borings for coal in the region of the Narbada have not yet led to 
any discovery. Early in the year two borings were commenced, at Ivhapa and at Manegaon, 
iu tho valley of the Dudhi. These were in the Mahadeva rocks, and were put down in the 
hope of striking the coal-measures beneath. At the beginning of the monsoon these borings 
had reached 260 and 241 feet respectively from the surface, and were still in the covering 
rock formation, when the work was necessarily closed for the season. The labour was then 
transferred to the boring at Sukakheri in the main valley, where a depth of 844 feet had 
already been reached. There, it may be noticed, the endeavour is lo reach the rock under¬ 
lying the valley deposits, there being some grounds for supposing that the coal-measures of 
the Sitariva extend to the north. This boring has been carried down to the depth of 491 
feet still in the stiff kunkur clay. The 3-inch piping having stuck fast at 425 feet, the 
additional depth was attained with great difficulty, until finally it was found impossible to 
do more than draw the sludge filling in from the sides; and the work had to be stopped. 
This boring had been commenced with such material as was available at the time, and with 
the full expectation that rock would be reached at a less depth. It had also the further dis¬ 
advantage of frequent interruptions from want of piping ; much credit is, therefore, due to 
the skill and energy of Mr. Stewart, that he was able under the circumstances to push the 
work so far. 
No direct knowledge has, however, been gained upon the question to be solved excepting 
collaterally, that it would certainly he very costly to sink for coal through such a depth of 
superficial deposits. It may possibly be that these deposits are exceptionally thick at 
Sukakheri, and that rocks may be nearer the surface elsewhere, and the question would 
seem of sufficient importance practically, and of sufficient general interest to warrant a 
renewal of the trial in another spot. The lowest few feet of clay in the boring at Suka¬ 
kheri were much charged with black ferruginous granules, single and agglomerated, suggest¬ 
ing perhaps the proximity of a lateritie bod which is by no means uncommon at the base of 
the old alluvial deposits, and this again most frequently occurs where the trap rocks occur 
underneath. Both these conditions are seen to obtain at several points along the maigin of 
the valley. 
