the expensiveness of the machinery and costly European agency have so far proved an obstacle to the financial success of the industry. The native oil-wells are constructed and managed on much more economical principles than the English companies, and many of them yield large profits.

panies :

The principal English company, the Boronga, has (1884) Chief oil 24 wells, one of them having a depth of over 1200 feet. ComOnly 10 were at work in 1883-84, yielding an out-turn of 234,000 gallons of oil, of which 65,400 gallons was refined, and the remainder sold in a crude state, the total realizations for the year being about £6000. The Arakan Oil Company, newly started, yielded during 1883-84 an out-turn of 107,800 gallons from 5 wells out of 7 sunk by them, the deepest being 400 feet, all of which was sold on the spot in its crude state. The native wells, bored by means of locally-made tools, windlasses, and sheers, run down to a depth of 250 to 350 feet. The total out-put of the whole field, including English companies and native wells, numbering about 170 in all, during the year, was 404,325 gallons. The imports of crude oil from the Ye-nanchaung wells in Upper Burma were 968,210 gallons, most of which was taken by the Rangoon refinery, which produced 640,000 gallons of refined oil during the year.

In Assam, petroleum occurs in the neighbourhood of the in Assam ; coal-fields in the south of Lakhimpur District. It was formerly worked in connection with the coal by a private European capitalist, but the enterprise failed to prove a success. A Government concession to work the oil-beds was granted to the Assam Railways and Trading Company, along with the Mákum coal-fields; but up till 1884 no attempt had been made by the company to work the oil. In the Punjab, in Punjab. petroleum is worked experimentally by the Public Works Department at two spots in Rawal Pindí District. In 1873-74, the total yield was 2756 gallons; and in 1882-83, 5000 gallons. Petroleum is also found in Bannu District, and probably in other neighbouring Districts of the Punjab.

The commonest and also the most useful stone of India is Stone, etc. kankar, a nodular form of impure lime, which is found in almost every river valley, and is used from one end of the peninsula to the other for metalling the roads. Lime for building Lime. (chunám) is derived from two sources-(1) from burning limestone and kankar, and (2) from the little shells so abundantly found in the marshes, rivers, and lakes. Calcutta derives its chief supply of limestone from the quarries of the Khásí

Hills in Assam, known as 'Sylhet lime,' and from the Susuni quarries in Bánkurá District. Except for occasional beds of Kankar. kankar, the lower valley of the Ganges is absolutely destitute of stone; nor does the alluvial soil afford good materials for Pottery. brickmaking or fine pottery. But a European firm has recently established large pottery and cement works at Ráníganj in Bardwán, which employ about 500 hands, and carry out contracts for drainage pipes and stoneware. These works are annually increasing in importance and value.

stone. Marble.

The centre of the peninsula, and the hill country generally, Building abounds in building-stone of excellent quality, which has been used locally from time immemorial. Among the finest stones may be mentioned-the pink marble of Rájputána, of which the historical buildings at Agra were constructed; the trap of the Deccan; the sandstone of the Godávari and the Narbadá; and the granite of Southern India Quarries of slate are scattered through the peninsula, and Mica and sometimes worked by European capital. Mica and talc are also quarried to make ornaments. Among the hills of Orissa and Chutiá Nágpur, household vessels and ornaments are skilfully carved out of an indurated variety of potstone.

Slate.

talc.

Precious stones.

Despite its legendary wealth, which is really due to the accumulations of ages, India cannot be said to be naturally prolific in precious stones. Under the Muhammadan rule, Diamonds, diamonds were a distinct source of State revenue; but at the present day, the search for them, if carried on anywhere in British territory, is too insignificant an occupation to have attracted the notice of Government. The name of Golconda has passed into literature; but that city, once the Musalmán capital of the Deccan, was rather the home of the diamondcutters than the actual source of supply. It is believed that the far-famed diamonds of Golconda actually come from the sandstone formation, which extends across the eastern borders of the Nizám's Dominions into the Madras Districts of Kistna and Godávari. A few worthless stones are still found in this region.

at Golconda;

in Sam

balpur ;

Sambalpur, on the upper channel of the Mahánadi river in the Central Provinces, is another spot once famous for diamonds. In the last century, a British officer was despatched to Sambalpur by. Clive to arrange for remittances home by means of Sambalpur diamonds. As late as 1818, a stone is said to have been found here weighing 84 grains and valued at £500. The river valleys of Chutiá Nágpur are also known

to have yielded a tribute of diamonds to their Muhammadan conqueror.

delkhand.

At the present day, the only place where the search for diamonds is pursued as a regular industry is the Native State of Panna (Punnah) in Bundelkhand. The stones in Bunare found by digging down through several strata of gravelly soil, and washing the earth. Even here, however, the pursuit is understood to be unremunerative, and has failed to attract European capital.

About other gems very little information is available. The town of Cambay in Gujarát (Guzerát) is celebrated for its Carnecarving of carnelian, agate, and onyx. The stones come from lians. the neighbourhood of Ratanpur, in the State of Rájpípla. They are dug up by Bhil miners, and subjected to a process of burning before being carved. The most valued colour for carnelians is red, but they are also found white and yellow. Lapis lazuli is found in the mountains of the north, and is freely used in the decoration of temples and tombs.

fisheries.

Inferior pearl fisheries are worked off the coast of Madura Pearl District in the extreme south, and in the Gulf of Cambay ; but the great majority of Indian pearls come either from Ceylon (which is also rich in other gems) or from the Persian Gulf. In the year 1700, the Dutch obtained a lease of all the pearl fisheries along the Madura coast, and sublet the right of fishing to native boatmen, of whom 700 are said to have taken licences annually at the rate of 60 écus per boat.

of the

We have now sketched the physical aspects of India, its Scientific past history, and its present administration and condition branches under British rule. It remains to briefly deal with the topics subject. of scientific interest connected with the country: its material framework or geology; its climatic conditions, or meteorology; its animal and vegetable products; and the health statistics of its population. Each of these subjects forms the subject of many elaborate volumes, and the adequate treatment of any one of them would demand a body of scientific coadjutors not available to the author of this work. But some account of them may be useful for administrative purposes.

The following pages are offered, not for the instruction of Scope specialists, but to the general reader who wishes to study of the following India in all its various aspects. In previous sections, the chapters. author has not hesitated to repeat himself when dealing with Indian products, such as opium, cotton, and salt; first from

the administrative and then from the economic point of view. For he believes that such repetitions are convenient to many who desire a view of the subject under each head. In like manner, the following sections will not shrink from repetitions, in referring to certain productions, such as coal, iron, or forests, in their scientific aspects.

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CHAPTER XXII.

GEOLOGY OF INDIA.

FOR geological purposes British India may be mapped out into the four geographical divisions of the Himalayan region, the Indo-Gangetic plain, Peninsular India, and Burma.1

THE HIMALAYAN REGION.-The geology of this tract is more Himácomplex and less fully known than that of the Peninsular layas. area. Until the ground has been carefully gone over by the Geological Survey, many points must remain doubtful; and large areas of the Himálayas (Nepál and Bhután) are still inaccessible to Europeans. The oldest rock of the Himalayas is a gneiss, differing in character from the gneiss of the Penin- Gneiss. sula, and from that of Assam and Burma. The Himalayan gneiss is usually white and grey, its felspar orthoclase and albite; it contains much mica and mica schist, and is more uniform in character than the gneiss of the Peninsula. The latter is usually pink, its felspar being orthoclase and oligoclase; it contains little mica schist, but often has quartzite and hornblendic rock. Hornblende occurs in the syenitic gneiss of the Northern Himálayan (or Ladakh) range.

axes.

The Central Himálayan region may be described as con- Central sisting of two gneissic axes, with a trough or synclinal valley gneissic between them, in which fossiliferous beds have been deposited and are now preserved. The gneiss of the southern or main axis (the 'central gneiss' of Dr. Stoliczka) is the oldest; that of the northern or Ladákh axis comes next in age. The gneiss of the Ladákh axis is generally syenitic, or is that variety of the Himalayan gneiss already described as containing hornblende. It is probably an extremely altered condition of ordinary marine sediment. The gneiss of the central axis is the ordinary kind; it is penetrated by granite, which ranges along some of the highest peaks. Between these two gneissic

1 This section is based upon the official Manual of the Geology of India, by Messrs. H. B. Medlicott and W. T. Blanford, 2 vols., Government Press, Calcutta, 1879. Mr. W. Topley, of the English Geological Survey, conducted the preliminary condensation.