16 
Records of the Geological Survey of India. 
[vol. II. 
6. Several figures in the list show how safely the water is stored below ; how slowly, 
but surely, the supply recovers when drawn upon. These measurements were taken on the 
5tli of June, after a long season of drought. Dr. J. M. Coates, Superintendent of Jails, 
has kindly given me a statement of the rain-falls for the preceding months January, 0'26; 
February. 0’97; March, 0*64; April, O'O; May, 1*54; up to 5th June, 0’59. The scarcity 
was much felt, but it was not an extreme case. I am told that worse seasons have been 
experienced, still there were 13 and 20 feet of water in wells Nos. 2 and 3 at a depth from 
the surface of 26 and 27 feet. In other cases, as Nos. 6 and 14, a fair daily supply was 
renewed nightly. The stratum of clay can be but very slightly permeable to water, and 
can contribute little ; all the evidence goes to show that the water is lodged in the disinte¬ 
grated upper portions of the under-lying gneiss. The depth to which this decomposition 
takes place is variable according to the variety of the rock in different spots ; but it is 
generally very considerable, and in every case I would take that as the depth to which a well 
may be sunk with advantage. The moderate permeability of this rotten rock, as shown by 
the facts just quoted, suggests an alternative to the deep sinking which has been recom¬ 
mended as the best safeguard against scarcity : it would seem that wells may be sunk within 
80 to 100 yards of each other" without seriously affecting the daily supply in each within 
the limits of ordinary demand. 
7. In connection with the question here discussed, I would bring to notice an allied 
one of equal importance. In the 13 days following the 6th June there tell 14'43" of rain, 
and all the wells were filled to within a foot of, or were quite up to, the surface. This is 
their condition for months throughout the rainy season, after which they slowly subside to 
their minimum at the end of the ensuing hot season. Such a state of things will seem 
strange after what has been said of the configuration of the ground, that the surface drainage 
is ample in every direction; and that at no great distance the rocks outcrop in valleys much 
below the general level of the country, unless from artificial causes there is no surface 
lodgement, of water. It may seem stranger that it should be allowed to remain so. I have 
lately heard doubts expressed as to the reputed healthiness of Ilazareebaugh. Without in 
the least wishing to endorse such an opinion, against which there is much presumptive 
evidence, I may remark that, according to received notions, it seems like neglecting a means 
of improved healthiness to allow the water to be so near the surface. It may be said, and 
I am not prepared to deny the assertion, that so long as the water is even a few inches under¬ 
ground, it is innocuous; that it is only when allowed to stagnate on the surface that it 
becomes injurious ; if it be so, most of the ground would require no treatment, but there, 
would remain much to be done. When 1 passed through Hazareebaugh in the middle of 
November 1866, after we had many days of hot sunny weather, I noticed soft sludgy ground 
in many places, even within a short stone’s-throw of the barracks. At half-way down the 
slopes of the shallow hollows the water does ooze out, creating this boggy ground, so long 
as the general water level remains above the level of the channel. Surely this would come 
within the limits of the conditions to which the autumnal unhealthiness is attributed all 
over India. But here, not as in the cities of the plains, the remedy is easy; the most 
complete facilities exist for drainage of any required degree. Of drainage, such as is usually 
understood in India, Hazareebagh has had its fair share: the natural water channels 
and the cuts along the roadside, or elsewhere, are kept clear, but in such a sub-soil as that 
here the effect of this is imperceptible. Drainage to be effectual should be such “ thorough 
drainage” as a farmer would apply to similar land in Scotland, if he wanted to bring it 
under tillage. 
8. The Civil Station adjoins Cantonments immediately on the north-west, the ground 
being apparently slightly higher. Here, about the Zilla'h Jail, and in the grounds of the 
house occupied by the Superintendent of Jails, I saw some sections in unlined wells somewhat 
different from what would seem to be the rule in Cantonments, in so far as that the clay, 
which is of precisely the same character as elsewhere, is much less thick, not more than 6 to 
10 feet. The rock does not appear at the surface. Even here I could not satisfy mysell 
upon the mode of origin of the clay; there seems to be generally at the base a loot or so, 
in which coarse quartz debris is abundant and irregularly scattered. Here, however, it is 
certain that the water-yielding rock is the porous rotten gneiss, in which the wells are dug 
without any difficulty. It is often so loose as to crumble away and fall in. 
9. We may now come to the main object of our investigation. The European Peni¬ 
tentiary stands about three-fourths of a mile to north-north-east of Cantonments, and 
separated from them by a broad valley, some 40 feet deep, passing up to westwards, in which 
