86 
Records of the Geological Survey of India. 
[vol. vm. 
As to coal: the only tangible and immediate prospect is, of course, where we are certain of 
the coal-measures; I think there is a good prospect of coal in the Skapur field; if not in the 
Sonada area, then further east, on the Tawa. 
Regarding those places where we are searching for the measures themselves, I can only 
say that there is a reasonable hope of finding them. In the central area, where the deep 
borings are being made, the chief risk is that the measures are out of reach. In the trials 
along the border of the basin the extra hope is that the measures, if there, have partaken in 
the extension and rise of the Talchir bods towards the northern outcrop; the extra risk, that 
the boring may be outside the overlap. 
The prospect held out of coal on the lower Narbada is in some ways more precarious, 
the ground being so very far from any known occurrence of the coal-measures; yet the 
countervailing suggestion of a probable original expansion of the measures towards the sea¬ 
board is not without weight; and the presence of a rock that is known to overlie most of the 
important coal-basins in India is no small encouragement. Considering the importance of a 
local supply in Western India, the chance ought not to be left untried. 
Note on coals recently found near Moflong, Khasi Hills, by F. R. Mallet, Esq. , 
Geological Survey of India. 
On the 19th April 1875, I visited the coal recently discovered near Umsaomat and at 
Dedum Hill. 
Two spots were pointed out to me near Umsaomat, one about half a mile, and the other 
a mile south-east of the village. The coal at both these places is worthless, being shaly, and 
the seams only a foot thick. 
The following assays have been made of the Dedum coal, and for comparison of that at 
Maobelaka, the latter seam is that which for some time past has been worked for the supply 
of Shillong with fuel:— 
Dedum Hill. 
Maobelaka. 
ITygroscopie water ... 
... 60 
34 
Volatile matter, exclusive of water 
24-6 
39-6 
Fixed carbon 
37*8 
65-3 
Ash 
... 316 
1-8 
ioo-o 
100 0 
The Maobelaka coal was taken from the fresh working face of the quarry, while that 
from Dedum was from the surface of the weathered outcrop. The latter coal would pro¬ 
bably be found considerably better a few feet in. The seam is three feet thick (the Maobe¬ 
laka coal being 3' 6" to 4' 0” ), but the outcrop is at the foot of a perpendicular sandstone 
cliff 15 feet high, from the top of which the hill slopes back steeply for 30 or 40 feet 
more. The hill near the top of which the seam is situated appears to be equally steep 
all along the southern side, so that the coal could not be quarried. If sufficiently good in 
the interior, however, and no better seams should be found in the neighbourhood, it might 
be worth mining on a small scale, as when the projected new road is completed, the 
facilities for carriage from Dedum to Shillong will bo considerably greater than those from 
Maobelaka. The roof is good and the seam horizontal, and a few miners could raise 
sufficient coal to supply Shillong. The chief difficulty in the way of opening such a mine 
under native supervision would be the risk of explosions it it were not properly ventilated. 
