Titles of Books. Donors. TORONTO.-Canadian Journal of Science, Literature, and History, Vol. XII, No. 6, 8vo., 1870, Toronto. CANADIAN INSTITUTE. VIENNA.-Jahrbuch der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Geologischen Reichs-anstalt, Bd. XX, 8vo., THE INSTITUTE. 1870, Vienna. REUSS, DR. A.-Die Fossilen Mollusken der Tertiær-Beckens von Wien., Bd. II, Verhandlungen der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft. WASHINGTON.-Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institute for SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE. 1868, 8vo., 1869, Washington. DEAN, JOHN.-The Gray Substance of the Medulla oblongata and trape- SACKEN, R. OSTEN.-Monographs of the Diptera of North America, Pt. IV, 8vo., 1869, Washington. SMITH. INSTITUTE. SMITH. INSTITUTE. Swan, James G.-The Indians of Cape Flattery, 4to., 1869, Washington. SMITH. INSTITUTE. Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for. 1868, 8vo., 1869, Washing- ton. MAPS. DECHEN, DR. VON.-Erläuterungen der geologischen Karte der Rheinprovinz und der Provinz Westphalen, Theil. I, 8vo., 1870, Bonn. With large folio map. REPORT ON THE PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF BORINGS FOR COAL IN THE GODÁVARÍ VALLEY NEAR DÚMAGÚDEM AND BHADRACHALAM, by W. T. BLANFORD, F. G. S., Deputy Superintendent, Geological Survey of India. The occurrence of fragments of shaly coal in the bed of the Godávarí close to the spot where the Tál river joins it from the north, about twelve miles above Dúmagúdem, has been known for several years. It was noticed by Mr. Wall in his report of his journey to Kota near Sironchá in 1857, and the coal was by him supposed to be derived from the Tál river. An examination of the Tál for a considerable distance above its junction with the Godávarí, however, having proved fruitless, Colonel Haig, the Superintending Engineer of the Godávarí Navigation Works, asked me to examine the spot when I was marching down the valley in May 1867. I found that in the Tál, near its junction with the Godávarí, the only rocks exposed belonged to the Tálchír group, whilst the Damúdá shales and sandstones, which alone have been hitherto found in the Indian Peninsula to contain coal, appeared at the spot where the smaller stream joined the Godávarí, and I suggested that the coal probably came from a seam buried beneath the sand of the river, and advised exploration by digging away the sand and closely examining the rocks. This was done by Mr. Vanstavern, Executive Engineer, and resulted in the discovery of coal in four places, all a little lower down the river than the mouth of the Tál, so that the bed from which the fragments first found were derived has not yet been detected, but as a large quantity of silt and sand has been accumulated near the mouth of the Tál of late years, it is probably now covered to a considerable depth. The quality was inferior. Of the seams found, two, neither of them exceeding 2 feet in thickness, were detected close to the left bank of the river, opposite the village of Lingálá. The quality of the coal is rather inferior, and both seams thin out and disappear within a few yards; moreover, as the dip of the rocks at Lingálá is towards the river bed, or southwest, and the outcrop exactly parallel with the bank, it is clear that the beds, even if of good /quality, could not be easily worked at this spot, as the whole of them within any reasonable depth must be beneath the bed of the river. The third seam found crops out in the middle of the river bed; it is about 5 feet thick, and the quality appears better than in the other seams. The reef of sandstone resting on this coal can be fairly traced at intervals for some distance, and after running along the river for about a mile, it turns in towards the right or south-west bank. Here its course becomes obscure. Borings were put down by Mr. Vanstavern near the spot where the coal would probably crop out on the bank, but without success. Another thin seam, only 2 feet thick, has also been detected by Mr. Vanstavern on the right bank of the river. This, like the two first met. with, thins out within a few yards in one direction. I reached Dúmagúdem on the 25th December 1870, and learned from Colonel Haig that besides the coal at Lingálá near the mouth of the Tál, some had been reported farther down the river at a village named Madaváram below Bhadrachalam. This place is below the first barrier on the Godávarí, and is consequently at all times in free communication by water with the coast, whilst Lingálá is above the first barrier, and although communication is now possible during the greater part of the year, it is not easy for laden boats except for a few months. At the spot where coal was said to have been found, I could detect nothing except some shaly dark coloured sandstone, but the rocks around were unmistakeably Damúdás and there was every reason to hope for success in the search. An examination of the ground showed that the Damúdá rocks extend for a short distance on both banks of the river, but that sections are very few and imperfect. On the left bank which belongs to the Upper Godávarí* districts, there are scarcely any rocks visible except at the hills near Daorpali, and these are probably of a higher group, nearly the whole surface elsewhere being covered with alluvium. The beds appear to extend about six miles along the river from Gogubáká to Nándigúr, but not more than from a mile to a mile and a half from the bank. On the right (south) bank of the river they extend about five miles from Paláram to the bend below Madaváram, stretching for a mile and a half to two miles inland. Above Paláram there is a break occupied by metamorphic rocks for a mile and a half; above this, again, at Pundigúl the Damúdás re-appear and occur for about one and a half miles to a little above Amraváram, then they are covered apparently by the Kámthís, but the two groups here resemble each other so much in mineral character that their limits are difficult to define, especially as nearly the whole surface of the country is thickly covered with alluvial deposit. The Damúdás near Amraváram cannot be traced more than about a mile and a half from the river's banks, beyond this limit they are entirely overlapped by the Kámthís. Along the right (or south) bank of the Godávarí a tolerable section of the Damúdás is exposed, consisting of conglomerate, sandstone, shale and clay, but no coal. There are, however, many breaks in the section, and it is evident that an examination of these by boring would prove conclusively the presence or absence of any bed of coal extending over the whole field. Local beds, of course, might be found elsewhere, but their value must be comparatively small. It is also manifest that a thorough exploration can only be made south of the river, as to the north the beds are so much concealed that, except in a few spots, all borings must be put down at haphazard. The general dip seen in the river's bank near Madaváram is to the westward, the rocks at the village being inclined at a high angle and much broken and disturbed; a short distance to the east down the river there is an anticlinal, at the spot where a small stream enters the river. From this point eastwards to the bend of the river, a distance of less than a quarter of a mile, the rocks either have a low dip to the east or are horizontal, and the prevalence of conglomerate shows them to be in all probability near the base or limit of the formation. It is evident that the anticlinal exposes the lowest rocks to be seen on the river bank, and that a boring at this spot must penetrate beds lower in the series than any exposed elsewhere. On the arrival of the boring tools, I arranged with Mr. Vanstavern for a borehole to be begun at this spot. This was commenced on January 17th and carried on until April 12th, up to which time 192 feet had been penetrated; the borehole was then stopped in *I do not know who bestowed this name on the districts, but it is an absurd misnomer. The Upper Godávarí can only be that portion of the river's course above its junction with the Pranhítá, if not higher still, where it traverses the Bombay Presidency. Sironchá at the upper extremity of these "Upper Godávarí districts" is 210 miles as the crow flies from the mouth of the river and 400 miles from its source! consequence of the tools being required to prove the coal discovered on the opposite side of the river. The section passed through was I next arranged for a series of fourteen borings to explore the portions of the section not exposed in the river banks to the west of Madaváram between that village and Damarcherla. These varied in depth from 6 to 200 feet, according to the extent of the breaks in the section, and the plan proposed was that all the smaller boreholes not exceeding 35 feet in depth, nine in number, should be made by jumpers with extra lengths of light rods to screw on. The remaining five boreholes alone would require the use of the heavier boring rods. In the ground opposite Madaváram no boreholes were put, because the breaks in the section are trifling, and the disturbance so great that there is reason to believe that a repetition of beds takes place. To the west of Damarcherla one or two additional boreholes might have been required, but a little beyond the village the beds turn up, dipping east, and then roll over again, and just beyond the small anticlinal, very unpromising conglomerates, perhaps belonging to a higher group, come in, in which there is no break of section which could conceal a coal seam. Two or three small jumper holes were put down to the east of Madaváram. Of the holes proposed six were carried out, viz., four jumper holes and two boreholes, when peremptory orders were received from the Government of India to discontinue all boring operations in the Nizam's dominions. It is doubtful whether the boreholes in the bed of the river were in the Nizam's dominions, but pending a reference to the Government of the Central Provinces, one set of boring tools was moved across the river into British territory in order to test some ground near the boundary of the field, and close to the base of the measures, on a horizon which did not appear to have been proved by the borings on the opposite bank. It should be stated that the borings, so far as they had been carried out on the right bank, had shown the existence of sandstones and shales similar in every respect to those seen in the bank of the river, except that in two or three instances small fragments of coal, proving the existence of very thin seams, probably not exceeding two or three inches in thickness, had been brought up by the borer. These little seams, although absolutely worthless in themselves, are of importance, as indicating that the mineral does occur in the beds, and that hopes may be entertained of larger seams being found. The place selected for a boring on the north or British bank of the Godávarí was on the right or west bank of a stream called the Ganár, rather less than half a mile from the Godávarí, and about the same distance east of the village of Tátpali, at a spot where some brown sandstone, dipping to the south, is seen on the bank of the watercourse. A little more sandstone of the same kind is seen up the stream to the north, and then metamorphics crop out, the latter appearing about 500 yards north of the spot selected for boring. For |