26 
Jh cords of the Geological Survey of India. 
[ VOL. II. 
Towards the close of the year (December). I proceeded to Attok to examine the rocks 
under the River Indus, through which a tunnel drift had been carried, with a view to determine 
the practicability of enlarging this drift into a regular roadway. I had wished to accomplish 
this work earlier in the season, but as the tunnel was full of water, and was not pumped out 
until December, T was obliged. to defer it. Having already reported in some detail on this 
question, I need not here enter into the facts, further than to state, there appeared nothing 
either in the structure or _ in the composition of the rock-masses to prevent the immediate 
enlargement of the drift with perfect safety, provided proper precautions were adopted, and 
the work were done at once. But that these precautions would render the cost of the tunnel, 
when completed, quite as great as that of a first class bridge, and that even then the accom¬ 
modation to the traffic would certainly not be as great as that afforded by a bridge. 
Subsequently, at the request of the Government of the Punjab, I examined with some 
care the range of hills near Futtyjung, extending southward from Cheerat,and in which 
petroleum had been obtained. I saw everything to lead to the conclusion that petroleum 
would be found over a large area in these orbitolite limestone rocks, although probably not 
in any very great quantities in one place. The best position for trials seemed fairly indicated, 
and these I noted. The probability would seem to be that limited reservoirs of this oil will 
be found at no great depth from the surface, although I am not very sanguine that they will 
prove very extensive in any one locality. Similar rocks occur again in a rudely parallel range 
to the east, and here also traces of earth-oil are seen; and it would appear very probable that 
supplies will be found extending over a large area in this part of the Punjab. 
An examination of the Dhurmsala district, and also of the Goorgaon district near 
Delhi, was requested, with a view to determine the extent of deposits of kaolin said to occur in 
each. Looking, however, to the inaccessibility of both and their distance from any markets, 
which must prevent the economizing of this clay to any large extent; and also to the fact 
that, so far as any local demand existed, it was of no importance to determine at the 
present the extent of these deposits, their existence being known, I felt compelled to think 
this enquiry was of vastly less importance than others. And that, so far as any question 
of extent or amount of such deposits was concerned, a very much more satisfactory answer 
could be given after the whole districts had been gone over than after a rapid visit to one 
or two isolated localities. No mistake can be greater than to imagine that a geologist can, 
by a sort of intuition, arrive at a knowledge of iacts bearing on such questions. This can 
only be acquired by a continuous and detailed investigation necessarily demanding time. 
Bengal and Upper Phovinces. —During the early part of the year just closed, 
Mr. Medlioott was engaged in the investigation of the western and southern flanks of the 
Garo Hills. So long since as 1842, Mr. Bedford, who had surveyed parts of tills area, 
announced the occurrence of coal in the hills bordering the Bramahpootra River at the 
western extremity oi the Garo Hills, near to a village called Harigaon, and other outcrops 
had been noticed further to the east in the Sumesurri River. The peculiarly favorable 
situation of these places, within easy reach of a great river, and in districts where fuel was 
otherwise not readily procurable, rendered it of high importance that the facts should be 
ascertained. It was also known that the rocks which accompany coal in the Khasia Hills 
extended to the west, and there was, therefore, a probability that the coal might also he 
found to extend in the same direction. It had long been hoped that a topographical 
survey o£ these hills would afford the means of recording carefully the geological observa¬ 
tions, hut as there appeared little likelihood of these hopes being realized within any reason¬ 
able time, and as meanwhile the question of the- eastern and northern extension of the 
Eastern Bengal Railway was urgent, it was determined to examine the area, in such a general 
way as might he sufficient, without entering into minute detail, to solve the question aatiss 
factorily ol the probable amount and character of the coal which occurred there. Mr. Medli- 
cott's report on the results of his examination having been published (Uncords of the Geolo¬ 
gical Surrey of India, Part 1,1868, p. 11), it is unnecessary to enter into any detail here. 
It will be sufficient to state that he has shown that the spurious coal of the Garo Hills is 
geologically distinct from most of that known in the Khasia Hills; that, in all cases, this 
coal occurs near to the base of the whole stratified series within a few yards of the underlying 
crystalline rocks; while the coal itself is very poor, in one place mainly a resinous shale, in 
another, a thick bed of dark stiff clay with insignificant strings of lignite through it. 
Whore in greatest quantity, it is described as a thick hand of shale in the midst of which 
