PAKT 3.] 
Medlicott, Shapur Coal-Jleld. 
6!) 
was resumed at Khapa and Matiegaon on the 15th January 1875. On the 23rd of April 
work was suspended at the Mancgaon boring (at 419 feet), the depth now attained necessi¬ 
tating the constant attention of the European foreman at one boring. At the close of the 
season (15th May) the hole at Khapa was down to 472 feet. The sections of these borings 
give as yet no hint as to the prospect of finding coal: the rocks are throughout the same as 
at the surface, purple and greenish clays, alternating with sandstones, either white or tinted 
by admixture of the coloured clays. In the Khapa hole the proportion of clays to sand¬ 
stones is 193 to 279, at Manegaon it is 219 to 200. There is nothing discouraging so far. 
I have shown elsewhere that the Pachmari sandstone (lower Mabadeva) passes into clay to the 
deep; and the change to the coal-measures would probably be abrupt. 
On the representation by the Railway Department of the importance of a supply of coal 
Tawa Valley. as far as to tl,e wesfc as possible, the trials in the Tawa valley were 
commenced on the 25th December 1874 at Kesla, and on the 1st 
January 1875 at the Sulctawa, under the management of Mr. A. Gardiner, si. e. The latter 
Is entirely in strata of the Damuda formation, on tho horizon of the Bi jori beds as described 
in this region, and nine miles south of tho Shapur coal-field. The Kesla boring starts in 
the lower beds of the Mahadevas, somewhere in tho Pachmari horizon, so far as can at 
present be determined, four miles due north of the Suktawa boring; yet, if the structure 
upon which all these trials depend is favorable, if tho Barakar coal-measures rise again 
towards the north edge of the basin, they may be nearer the surface at Kesla, which is only 
three miles from boundary of the nietamorphics. When closed for the season (30th April) 
the Kesla hole had reached to 302' 0", that at the Suktawa to 241'. Clay greatly preponderates 
in the Kesla boring, a hard sandy rock variegated brown and red. The Suktawa rock also 
maintains the same characters as at the surface, alternations of strong sandstone with slightly 
carbonaceous shales. I do not find in them any grounds for a change of opinion regarding 
the original project; tho depths as yet attained are no greater than might occur at a short 
distance from tho outcrop. 
There is, however, already the surety from those borings that mining in this central 
Other trials recommended. re ” ! ° n wiU have to be dee P ei ' than . haS & been ^tempted in 
India. Por this reason, and to provide against the by no means 
improbable event of failure to roach the coal-measures at all in this position, it is certainly 
advisable to commence trials in other ground. Two projects are open to us : to try for tho 
measures close to the north boundary of the basin, in a position analogous to that of tho 
outcrop at Mohpani; and, to commence the exploration of the Shapur coal-field. With this 
view I have selected four sites for trial borings along the northboundary: one on the road 
into the Dudhi valley, about seven miles west of Mohpani; one on each of tho roads to 
Pachmari, close to patches of Talehir rocks ; and one at Lokartalai. For the southern region 
I have selected a site near the village of Sonada. One or more of these trials can be carried 
on at the same time and under the same management as one of tho deeper borings in each of 
tho river valleys, say at Khapa and tho Suktawa. 
II.— The western extension of the Satpuea basin. 
The occasional mention of tho probable extension of the coal-bearing series beneath tho 
trap to the west of tho known Satpura basin, and the fresh demand for coal for the new State 
Railway starting northwards from Khandwa, led to tho request for an examination of tho 
line of ground most likely to throw light on tho possibility of finding coal in that direction 
At tho end of the season I made a tour to the west of lokartalai along the direction of the 
north boundary of the basin. There cannot be said to bo any immediate practical result, but 
observations have been made confirming and greatly extending the conjecture upon which the 
