2 
Records of the Geological Survey of India. 
[vor,. III. 
frequently subject. And I have, therefore, given some time to the preparation of as perfect a 
catalogue of Indian earthquakes as I had means of obtaining. This will, I believe, prove an 
useful addition to Indian seismo-statistics, and I trust may at the same time be the means 
of eliciting further information on the subject. Many private records of such phenomena 
doubtless exist, full of interesting and often valuable information, which has never been given 
to the public. I would solicit the contribution of any such facts as may tend to prove the 
occurrence of shocks not hitherto noticed, or to indicate the extent of area over which, and the 
relative violence or intensity with which, shocks already recorded may have been felt in 
different parts of the country. The very nature of such a catalogue precludes the possibility 
of successful compilation by any unaided individual; the co-operation of many is essential. 
A report of the effects of the earthquake of 10th January, 1869, is in progress. 
At the beginning of November, I proceeded to the Central Provinces to control the 
operations there in progress for the exploration of the coal in Chanda and Berar. I found that 
the late rains of the year had caused a good deal of fever in many places, and the taking of the 
field by the Survey Party was a little delayed in consequence. Proceeding from Nagpore in 
company with Mr. C. Bernard, Commissioner of Nagpore, in whose jurisdiction the Chanda 
district is, I first took a general review of the field as far south as Ballarpur. And then 
returning fixed upon positions for future borings, with a view to test not only the continuity 
of the beds of coal which the river Wurdah had exposed in one or two places, but also to 
prove the nature, thickness, and contents of the coal-hearing formation generally. I have seldom 
seen a country less favorable for detailed Geological research, as a thick covering of clays con¬ 
ceals the rocks entirely, excepting at distant intervals. Any detailed examination, therefore, 
necessarily takes much time, and cannot in the end be very satisfactory. But, with the aid of 
borings, we hope to be able to trace out the rocks with tolerable accuracy. 
The results of the trials up to November last were published in the last part of the 
Records of the Survey (Part 4, 1869), and it is not necessary* to repeat them here. Since 
that time, up to date, additional information has been gained, which is all satisfactory. One 
of the great sources of doubt as to the extent of the coal deposits arose from the widely* 
established fact, that the beds in the group of rocks in which the coal here occurs (that 
known to Indian Geologists as the Barakar group) had invariably a tendency* to exhibit very 
great variation both in thickness and quality within short distances. They are often of great 
thickness locally*, hut thin out and nearly disappear within short distances: this variation 
also being not only in the thickness, but also in the quality of the beds, so that what 
shows as a bed of good coal in one place may, within a few yards or a few hundreds of yards, 
pass into a shale without coal, or even into a sandstone. It was, therefore, important to test 
this, and the first new boring which was fixed on was put down near the village of Telwasa, 
some ten miles to the north of where the coal had been found in the river. No coal was 
visible, nor had any been ever known to he there; but the position in which it ought to be 
found, if the beds continued, was, as appeared to me, well marked. After some delays, 
the rods were put down here, and passing through the beds of sandstone, seen on the surface, 
they entered a group of beds of coal and shale, in the proper position exactly as anticipated. 
Up to the close of the year, 19 feet of this coal, with a few shale partings, had been cut into 
and the beds still continued.* Near the village of Nokora also, to the extreme south end of 
the small area of coal-bearing rocks which occurs on the Chanda side of the Wurdah river, 
near Ghugiis, the limits of which had been approximately fixed by Mr. Blanford in 1866, 
a hore-hole was pnt down by Mr. Fryar to test the character of the beds there. This has cut 
the same group of beds with coal found to the north of Ghitgus village. There are representa¬ 
tives of the two upper beds, and then of the thicker group of shale and coal below. But, as 
expected, there is a large amount of variation in the actual section. The thick beds of so- 
called coal and shale noticed in the borings at the north of Ghugiis (see Records, Geological 
Survey, 1869, p. 97), as being there altogether some 3,3 feet in thickness, have increased to 
more than 50 feet at Nokora; but this increase in aggregate thickness is chiefly in the 
greater development of the earthy or shale beds. The details of measurements need not be 
given here. 
The results, so far as the explorations have been carried, seem to me to point to the 
general continuity of the coals on a fixed horizon in the lower sandstones, and if this be con¬ 
firmed by further examination, these coals may be sought for with considerable certainty within 
* Forty-one feet, seven inches, of coal have been cut altogether here, in a total depth of 138 feet. 
