Dear List, Nick Balmer's recent posting about Sir Henry Pottinger and coal in Cutch reminded me of what I had just noticed in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol III, 1834, while I was leafing through it in search of something else. I reproduce it below: << VII .—Progress of the Boring for Coal at Jamutra is Cutch. By Capt. C. W. Grant, Engineers. (Extracted from that Officer’s Report to J. Bax, Esq. Sec. to the Bombay Government, communicated to the Asiatic Society by the Supreme Government, 30th Jan.) “the 3rd instant. I dispatched 125 maunds of coal from the vein at Dujapoor, agreeable to the desire of the Right Honorable the Governor.” “I continued sinking the bore at Jamutra as mentioned in my letter of the 18th June, until towards the latter end of July, when the rain fell, and the river came down so suddenly, that I had but just time to save the boring apparatus, and it was of course impossible to go on with the work, so long as the monsoon continued. At this time also, the whole of my establishment, my personal servants, and the sepoy guard, were attacked with fever—one man only out of 31 escaping it, so that I was obliged to allow them to go into Bhooj, for a few days, for change of air. As soon after the receipt of your letter of the 24th July, as the men had regained sufficient strength to work, I commenced digging out the coal at Dujapoor, and by the beginning of September, had it all ready for shipping to Bombay; since then, we have again been working at the bore at Jamutra, and we have now got down 184 feet below the bed of the river, or 190 feet below the general level of the country, principally through the sandstone and slate-clay, with here and there an exceedingly hard stratum or band of iron stone, as will be better seen by the enclosed list of the numerous strata passed through. The last 22 feet of white sandstone consists entirely of the finest particles of white quartz, and is evidently the channel of an underground spring; for after sinking through it some feet, the water rcse, and flowed out at the mouth of the hole in large quantities, night and day, without ceasing, as much as could be conveyed away by a seven or eight inch pipe. It is rather brackish, it cannot be otherwise, as it has to pass through 148 feet of very brackish water, which is constantly flowing in from the aides of the hole, before it can reach the surface; but I have no doubt, but that if it came up through pipes, it would be perfectly sweet. I particularly mention this circumstance, as the boring for water is now becoming of great interest, and my meeting with a spring 190 feet below the level of the plain, shows that success in that line should not be despaired of, eve when not found at small depths. The flow of water is constant and uniform, and runs down the river in a fresh stream, and very much impedes our work; so much so, that added to the great depth of the bore, It renders the work exceeding tedious and difficult. I am only waiting to heathe result of the trial of the coal just sent down, to stop work here, and should the coal be approved of, have it in contemplation to commence a bore at Dujapoor, and see if any other veins lie under the present one. In the mean time, I am about to make a long tour through the northern and western parts of the province, where, I think if anywhere, coal is likely to be found. I have already examined a great deal of the eastern side of the country, and after this trip, shall have a tolerable idea of the geology of the province. “The strata passed through in the present bore, as shown by the enclosed list, are such as usually denote the presence of coal; viz.sand stones. slate clay, and iron ore, and iron pyrites, and bear a very strong analogy to the sections of some of the coal districts in England. Whether coal exists beneath this, the means at my disposai do not permit me to ascertain, except at a great cost; but from the evident traces and presence of coal, though in small quantities, over a large extent of country of which Jamutra is one boundary, still inclines me to think that it must though in this instance I have not been fortunate enough to hit upon it. The establishment of a steam communication between Bombay and Europe being now I hope placed beyond a doubt, the discovery of coal so conveniently situated as this, appears to me to be more than ever a desideratum, and I beg you will assure the Right Honorable the Governor in Council. that no exertions shall be spared on my part to contribute to so desirable an object.” List and description of the several Strata passed through in Boring for Coal at Jamutra ia Cutch. (After a long list of 53 layers…) 54. Total depth of bore at present reached, including 42 ft.1 in. in the Height of the bank of the river ............. ........ ………190 1and ½ (ft) N. B. Below the white sandstone is a very hard rock, at which we are now working, and which serves as the pavement of the water channel described in the letter.>> Arvind Kolhatkar, Toronto, October 19, 2012.