PART 4.] 
Hall: "Barren Island and Narkondam. 
81 
There is no occasion in the present number of the Records to treat the subject of cost 
in its various branches, nor need I enter upon a discussion of the commercial aspect of the 
iron trade of Chanda. I hope to dwell at some length upon both these topics when giving 
a detailed description of the Wardha valley coal-field. 
For the present, I wish to draw attention to lrf, the richness of Chanda in iron-ore; 
2nd, the circumstance of the probable favorable association of coal and iron-ore; 3 rd, the 
proportional consumption of raw materials in the manufacture of native wrought-iron. Of 
course, should furnaces intended either for the making of pig-iron, or for the production of 
wrouaht-iron by the direct pro.cess, be ever erected on a European scale, the data afforded by 
observations on the liliputian works of the natives of the country will be matter for curiosity 
rather than of practical interest. 
Calcutta, 1 T. W. H. HUGHES, 
lsi July 1873. j 
Babeen Island and Nabkondam, by V. Ball, M. A., Geological Survey of India. 
In the month of March last, a few hours were spent on the two Islands whose names 
are given above by a party consisting of Mr. Hume, Dr. Stoliczka and myself. Although 
the time at our disposal did not admit of extended exploration, still an opportunity was 
afforded of checking the accuracy of the accounts which have been previously published. 
Having consulted every notice of these islands which, so far as I have been able to 
ascertain, have hitherto been published, I have been astonished to find how inaccurate has 
been the information upon which the accounts in Geological Manuals and other works have 
been founded. 
In the present paper I have devoted several pages to an abstract of these accounts, and 
have pointed out the errors and traced, so far as is possible, their origin. 
Dr. Liebig’s paper on Barren Island which contains the fullest and most accurate account 
of the island hitherto published, does not appear to have reached the hands of several 
authors who have since its publication repeated the old statements in their works. 
Barren Island and Narkondam are two volcanic, islands situated in the Bay of Bengal 
at a distance of 70 miles from one another on a north-by-east, south-by-west line. They 
constitute links which connect what is known as the Molucca band with the volcanic region 
of Arracan and Chittagong, and of which Mrs. Somerville has written as follows:— 
“One of the most terribly active groups of volcanoes in the world begins with the 
Banda groups of islands, and extends through the Sunda groups of Trimor, Sumbawa, Bali, 
Java, and Sumatra, separated only by narrow channels ; and altogether forming a gently 
curved line 2,000 miles long; but as the volcanic zone is continued through Barren Island 
and Narkondam in the Bay of Bengal and northward along the Coast of Arracan, the entire 
length of the volcanic range is a great deal more.” 
Dr. Hochstetter carries the line of elevations which accompanies the zone of volcanic 
action still further, in an oblique S. form, through Hew Guinea to the north of the 
Australian continent. “ It forms in New Ireland, the Solomon Islands, New Hebrides and 
New Zealand a curve, concave towards the west, the small group of the Macquarie Islands 
being possibly considered as the extreme southern end of this curve.” 
So far as is known, there are no volcanoes in either the Nicobar or Andaman Islands. 
It has been by some supposed that the hill on Bompoka in the Nicobars and some of the 
