EARLY ATTEMPTS OF DOCUMENTATION OF GEOLOGICAL

LITERATURE IN INDIA - A REVIEW

Development of Geology as a distinct discipline ofknowledge with special r efe r enc e to India has beendi. cussed. ehromological development of documenta-tion activity in geological science in India and earlierdocumenta.tion work done in India in various branchesof science have also been traced out which showsearliest documentation work in Ind ia was carried -outin the Geological Survey of India, Calcutta. Sugges-tion for establishment of a national geological docu-mentation centre has been made.

Development of Geology

Like many other branches of science,beginning of geological thoughts are mixed withlegends and myths. This varied from countryto country and resulted in different viewslike Hindu, Greek and Egyptian about the for-matian and structure of the earth. However.even this legends and myths had their originfrom the observation of natural phenomena. inthat sense these legends and myths are theearliest geological thoughts of the world. Manyof the earlier philosophers of Greece and Rometried to find out a reasonable explanation of allthe natural phenomena. Both the contemporaryprocesses like earthquakes, volcanoes andprocess of the past like formation of fossils,received their attention. Aristotle in hisMeteorite quoted the earlier views regardingthe earthquake and concluded that wind producedwithin the earth is the cause of this phenomena.He regarded earthquake and volcanic eruptionclosely related. He r cda tus noted the action ofriver and river deposits and pertinently re-

l3Z

ARC hakrabortyGeological Survey of IndiaCalcutta

marked, "Egypt is the gift of the Nil e'"; Occu-rence of sea shells and other marine fossils inthe hilly areas and places far away from thesea, drew the attention of Xenophanes ofColophon (614 B. C.) and Xanthus the Lydian(464 B. C.), Herodatus and Eratosthenes.

After an interval of long centuries studyof this science was revived again at the end ofthe 'dark period' in Europe. Leonard daVinchi (1452-1519) and Girolamo Frascatorio(1483-1'553) opined correctly on shells found inhilly areas. Nicholas Steno (1631-1687).Antonio Vallisneri (1661-1730). Lazzaro Moro(1687-1740) also made valuable contributions.

Modern period of geology started with thepublication of Theory of the earth with proofsand illustrations a contribution of a medicalman James Hutton (1769-1797), regarded asthe founder of modern geology. Lamarck(1744 -1829), and Cuvier (1769 -1832) hold simi-lar position for invertebrate and vertebratepaleontology re spectivel y.

Development of Indian Geology

The end of the 18th century was the begin-ning of the history of modern natural sciencesincluding geology. During this period (1784)Asiatic Society was formed at Calcutta with theobject of "enquiry into the history and anti-quities, arts, sciences, and literature of Asia".Sir William Jones, who came to Calcutta as anPuisne judge of the late sup r errie court at Fort

Ann Lib Sci Doc

DOCUMENTATIONOF GEOLOGICAL LITERATURE

William in Bengal" was the founder of theSociety. William Lambton, father of the greatTrigonometrical Survey of India" was also amember of this Society. In the year 1818Dr. Voysey now regarded as the father ofIndian Geology" was attached as surgeon andgeologist to the survey party of Colonel Lambton

"It reflects no 1ittle credit on the Honora-ble East India Company that they were only afew years behind the most enlightened Govern-ments of Europe in undertaking the measure-ment of an arc and starting a geological survey"But this te arn, which was to survey only thesouthern peninsula of India and primarily topo-graphicall y cannot be accepted as the fore-runner of the Geological Survey of India.

To communicate the researche commu-nications. ABS started "As iat ick Researches"(1788-), Transactions (1799-). Journal(1832 - ) and other periodicals. The earliestgeological contribution published in Englishlanguage in India was a note on II Barren islandand its volcanoes" by Lieut. R. H. Colebrookepublished in the 4th volume of Asiatic Re-searches p. 397-400, 1795. Many of them whocam e to India, from England in the scientificbranches of Military Services did some lauda-ble work in this field of knowledge. BesidesDr. Voysey (18l0-18l3), Dr. P. M. Benza,Surgeon to the Governor of Madras (1835),Dr. Malcolmson of Madras Medical Service(1833-l836) Capt. Newbold of Madras NativeInfantry (1836-47), all from the Medical pro-fession, bad pioneering contributions ongeology to their credit. All these were pub-lished in ASB publications.

The first three Geological Maps of partsof India were made of the Hyderabad region byDr. H. W. Voysey (18l0), of Malwa by Capt. P.Dangerfield (18l4), and of the Western Hima-laya by Capt. J. D. Herbert (18l5). It was nothowever until l85l that an attempt was made toprepare a geological map of the whole of India.From the year 1851, with the establishment ofGSI with T. Ol dharn as its first Head of theOrganisation, a new bold phase of Geologicalactivities started in India. The first issues ofthe Memoirs. Records. Palaeontologia Indicaof this Department were published in the years1856. 1863, and 1868 respectively. Thisstarted a new phase in the output of Geologicalliterature primarily related to India.

Vol 18 No 3 Sept 1971

Early Documentation Work in Geology inIndia, 19th Century

Earliest documentation work done inIndian geology date backs as far as 1883. Inthis year two bibliographies one on thermalsprings of India and the other a catalogue ofIndian earthquakes from the earliest time (asfar as written records are available) upto theperiod 1869 were compiled by T. Oldhazn (ed.by R. D. Oldham] and T. Oldhazn respectively.These two were published in the Vol. 19 of theMemoirs, GSI in the year 1883. It is quitenatural that the compilation work of these twobibliographies were completed earlier than1883.

The 57 page bibliography on thermalsprings of India cOhtains references to 301 hotsprings scattered geographically allover thethen British Indian Empire. The bibliographywas the result of available literature on hotsprings of India and personal experiences of theGeologists working in India at that time. Anentry contained the following infortnation:

a) serial numberb) name of the hot springc) latitude, longitude and elevationd) temperaturee) annotationf) bibliographical details.

Two sarnpl es of the entries incorporatedin the bibliography are given below:

16. Vehloli Lat. 19030'; Long. n055'Elev ..... , Temp •.•.. near Dhysaur (Dysur)in the Bassein taluq of the Tanna CollectorateGiraud; Med. Phys. Soc. Bombay, V. l60.

47. Doka khushti Lat .••.• ; Long ..••. ;Elev ••••. ; Temp ••.•. springs comes up roughfissure in the limestone in the Deyrah ValleyVicary: O.J.G.S. London, 1846,265, Kirk.Med. Top of upper sind, page 90.

An index is provided at the end consider-ing all possible spellings of the hot springsrefering to the corresponding paragraphs of themain schedule.

e. g.: DaznarniDaznhorni

P 152P 152

P 23Devaki Unii

133

CHAKRABORTY

Devakle UneiDewkee OornajeeDwrekee OonaeeGoregaunGurgaon

P 23p 23P 23P 21P 21

Catalogue of Indian earthquakes, pub-1iehed in the same volwne of Memoires GSI in1883 was compiled by T. Oldham, th •• firsto r garri ea t iona l head of the GSI. For this hecon e ul ted Earthquake Catalogue of the BritishAssociation by Robert and J. W. Mall et, London1858; Catalogue of Prof. Perrey of Dijon whichappeared in different is sues of ft Memoires de l'Academic de D'ijon , and the Memoires couran-nees de 11 Acad de Belgique; papers of BaidSmith on Indian earthquakes published in ASBJournal; the travels of Vigne, Moorcroft,Malison, Burnes and others and also unpub-lished official records and other periodicals.In all cases excepting when such is speciallystated the original papers or books in which thede ac r-ipt ion are given have been referred to.The arrangement of the bibliography is chrono-logical IItarting with an entry corresponding tothe year AD 893(? 894). An entry contains thefollowing information:

1) Year; date &: time2) Place of occurrence3) Annotations4) Bibliographical details

Some sample entries are given below:

A. D. 8931894 •.. India - under the 893 A. D.in the catalogue of earth-quakes a very severe shockis stated to have occured inIndia. The Capital is saidto have been destroyed and1,80,000 men to haveperished, preceded by aneclipse &: c. &:. c. And asauthorities for this state-ment, Abul Faraj and AlMacin are quoted .....In the Tarikhul Khulafa orhistory of the caliphs, it issaid: "And during the year(A. H. 280) a letter camefrom Daibul that the re wasan eclipse of the moonduring the month of Shawal ..and there blew a black wind •..and the wind was Tollowedby a great earthquake which

134

caused the whole town todisappear, the nwnber ofpeople which were dug outfrom ruins was I, 50,000"

1820 January 27 Bhooj - Accompanied by aloud noise like thunderCutch,Trans. Lit. Soc. Bombay. iii,90

1833 May 3012 P.M.

Lohughat - Earth shookrather violently for abouttwelve seconds, noise likerushing water.McClelland's Kwnaon,p. 208

1837 SeptemberEnd of Month

Penang - shocks continued7 days volcanic erruptionsnear Acheen - Asiat. Jour.XXV, 232;Jour. Asiat. Soc. Beng. ,XIV,607

The credit of first compilation of com-prehensive bibliography on Indian geology goesto R. D. Oldham. This was compiled from theliterature available in the library of the GSIand ASB. This bibliography was published byGSI in the year 1888. The comprehensivenessof this bibliography was admitted by T. H. D.LaTouche, a great name in Indian geologicaldocumentation, in the preface of his monwnen-tal docwnentational work, "Bibliography ofIndian Geology" (1918) in the following lines:

"In the compilation of the first portion ofthe work I have had the great advantage of beingable to make use of Mr. R. D. Oldham's verycomplete bibliography, presented to the Geolo-gical Survey of India in the year 1888. Theadditions that I have been able to make, so faras matter published before the date is con-cerned, are neither numerous nor perhaps ofgreat importance •...... n

The other geological docwnentation workcarried out in the 19th Century include:

1) A list and index of papers on Hima-layan Geology and microscopic petro-logy, published in the precedingvolwnes of Records GSI by Col. C. A.McMahon, published in the 20thvolume, pt. 4, of Records GSI in theyear 1887.

Ann Lib Sci Doc

DOCUMENTATIONOF GEOLOGICAL LITERATURE

2) Index to the genera and species des-cribed in the Palaeontologia Indicaupto the year 1891 by W. Theobald.p. 1-186 was published as a separatevolume in 1892.

3) Bibliography of barren island andNarcendam from 1884 to 1894. withaome remarks. by F. R. Mallet. pub-lished in the 28th volume. pt. 1. ofRecords GSI in the year 1895.

Early Documentation Work Done in India inOther Branches of Science

Traces of development of documentationwo!"kcarried out in India has been drawn up byShri S. Parthasarathy in his paper "Growth ofdocumentation in India" in the publication,-Documentation and its Fa cet s" ed. by Dr. S. R.Ranganathan. The learned author has dealt inshort the role of Forest Research Institute,Dehra Dun. National Institute of Sciences ofIndia. New Delhi, Central Board of Irrigation,New Delhi. Madras University Library underthe able guidance of Dr. S. R. Ranganathan andother organisations for their attempts towardsthis direction. Indian Science Abstracts,covering all the branches of science, werepublished by National Institute of Sciences ofIndia for the period 1935-40. Abstracting ser-vice emspecial field of knowledge was startedby the Central Board of Irrigation in the year1936. In most of the other organisations docu.-mentatiem work was started in the early 20thCentury. In the context of this it may perhapsbe said that documentation work on a specialfield of knowledge was started first in India byOSI earlier than 1883.

Pre -Independence Period

The most remarkable individual name inthe history of geological documentation in Indiais that ., Mr. T. H. D. Latouche. He was asenior Officer of GSI. At that time, range ofactivities of OSI covered Burma region too.During early 20th Century, when he was postedin Burma, he compiled a list of references onthe ,eology of Burma regiem for his personaluse and found it very helpful and effective inlocatinl necessary information very quicklywhen required.

After his retirement from the service, hewaa approached by the then Director of GSI,Mr. H. H. Hayden to compile a comprehensivebAbllOiraphy emthe geology and physical geo-

Vol 18 No 3 Sept 1971

graphy of the whole of the tIlen India. (Nowcomprising India. Pakistan, Burma &< Ceylon).The compilation work was started in the year1911. Besides corlsulting libraries of the GSIand ASB at Calcutta, he also consulted the lib-raries of the Cambridge University. IndiaOffice, Geological Society London, ImperialInstitute, British Museum, Royal GeographicalSociety, Institute of Civil Engineers and ScienceMuseum. Besides. covering geological andgeographical literature, articles on travelsexpeditions and to some extent articles on 'botany were also covered.

The Bibliography was issued in fourparts. First one containing the bibliographyproper, was published in the year 1917. The2nd part containing annotated index of mineralsof economic values was published in the year1918. Part 3 &< 4 contain subject and palaeon-tological index respectively. Arrangement ofthe bibliography. is according to the alphabeticsurname order of the authors. At the time ofprinting of this publication at Calcutta, MrLaTouche was in London. He used to send theproofs by sea mail to Calcutta Govt. PrintingOffice, which. consumed a lot of time. It wasalso a risky job as the ships had to sail throughthe hostile waters during the first world war.And once a maj or part of the revised proofswere lost in the ill-fated "Maloja". Had therebeen no duplicate copy of the proofs the wholeproject of publishing this bibliography wouldhave suffered much. Coverage of LaTouche' s'Bibliography on Indian Geology' is extensive,from the earl iest available document to theperiod 1911. Documents in all the Europeanlanguages on this subject, and translations fromPersian language covering Indian Geology havebeen taken into account. No need to mentionthat the ASB publications from the earliestissues have also been considered in this biblio-graphy. A few examples of the entries, pub-lished in the lbth, 17th and 18th Centuries, andincorporated in this bibliography are appendedbelow:

Van Linschoten, J. H. 1590: Histone dela Navigation de Jean Huges de Linscot.Hollandois et de son voyage es Indes orientales,Arnate rdam, 275pp.

Fitch, Ralph 1599: The voyage of M.Ralph Fitch, merchant of London by the way ofTripolis in Syria. to Ormus and so to Goa inthe East India to Cambaia and all the 'King-dome' of Zelabdin Echevar, the great Mogor to

135

CHAKRI'-BORTY

the mighty river Ganges and down to BangIa toBacola and chonderi to Pegu and to Iamhay inthe' Kingdome' of Siam and 'backe' to Pegu andfrom Thence to Malacca, Zeilan, Cochin andall the coast of the East India ..... Hakluyt' sPrincipal Navigations, II. 250-268.

Fredericke. Caesar 1599: The voyageand 'travell' of M. Caesar Fredericke'merchant' of Venice in to the East Indiabeyond the Indies. Ibid. II. 213-244.

Thevenot. 1665: Of the way used in theMoghol's dominions to make saltpetre.Phil. Trans. I. 103-104.

Howard. H. 1677: A description of thediamond mines as it was presented ... to theR. Society. Phil. Trans. XII. 907-917.

Gulston. E. 1763: An account of anearthquake at Chittagaon (2nd Ap r il 1762)translated from the Persian. Phil. Trans.r.m, 251-256.

BernoUlli. J. 1788: Description histori-que et geographique de I' Inde qui presente entrois volumes. enrichis de 64 cartes et autresplanches : pub en Angl ois, Berlin. 3 Vol. •1786.

de Rome de Lisle 1787: Note envoyee ...a'M. de la Metherie relativemeut a la figureprimitive des Rubis. Saphires et Topazes d'orient. J. Phys. chim .• XXX. 3671-30.

Ferber. 1789: Analyse du Jargon deCeylon. Ibid. XXXIV. 152-153.

Colebrooke. R. H. 1795: On the Andamanislands. As Res. IV. 385-395.

Hamilton. A. 1799: A short descriptionof Car Nicobar. As. Res .• II. 337-344.

Besides this La Touche also compiled ·anindex to first 1-65 volumes of Records andfiret 1-54 volumes of Memoirs of GSI in theyear 1932 and 1936 respectively. The re-markable character of this publication of early20th century is that LaTouche choose keywords,from the contents of the articles and infactproduced a KWIC index for these two importantIndian geological periodicals.

136

A systematic programme to publish anannual index to geological literature relating toIndia was undertaken by the GSI from the year1917. A decision was made to append theindex at the end of the Annual Report of theDi rector. GSI from this year. Ar rangement ofthe entries in this index was according to thealphabetic order of the surname of the authors.This annual index service was continued forlong 40 years and the last annual index waspublished in the year 1957.

Post Independence Period

With the expansion of the geologicalactivities in India in the post-independenceperiod. documentation activities were alsogeared up in several organisations. like GSI.Oil &: Natural Gas Commission and IndianBureau of Mines. Central Mining ResearchStation etc. &: other organisations.

Geological Survey of India: Calcutta

Library Bulletin. Geological Survey ofIndia. a mimeographed publication is beingpublished from the GSI Central Library fromthe year 1952. Section A of the Bulletin. con-tains list of texts. reports. maps. reprintsadded to the Library in U. D. C. classifiedorder. Section B is the current indexes togeological literature. both Indian and foreign.in two separate sequences. These ge ologtcalindexes related to Indian geology are main-tained on cards in the GSI Central Library forreference.

As regards other bibliographical activi-ties of this Department Indian Minerals. asernipopul ar geological quarterly journal pub-lished f r orn this Department has decided topublish bibliographies on topics of geologicalinterest. regularly in future. :t has also beendecided to publish bibliographies. catalogues.indexes to DepartITlental publications etc. f r ornthe GSI Central Library as Library PublicationSeries. The work for the publication of Nos. 1-3 is under progress.

Indian Bureau of Mines: Nagpur

Central Library. Indian Bureau of Mines.Nagpur , has on their credit very useful docu-mentation work. Library Bulletin publishedmonthly in rnirneogr aphed form contains indexto selective articles with abstracts and list ofadditions to IBM Central Library. Information

Ann Lib Sci Doc

DOCUMENTATION OF GEOLOGICAL LITERATURE

Bulletin. issued by this Library fortnightly.contains geological news published in promi-nent newspapers of India. Indian MineralsYear Book. an indispensable reference tool. isal so being publ ished from this Department.which sumsup an overall annual mineral pictureof India.

Oil &, Natural Gas Commission: Dehra Dun

Bulletin of Current References on Petro-leum &, Geological sciences. a quarterlyclassified index to the petroleum and geologicalsciences is being published from ONGC CentralLibrary. Dehra Dun. from theyear 1963.Previously this was issued with the title. Docu-mentation Notes.

Central Mining Research Station: Dhanbad

Occassional documentation lists are pub-liahed from the Central Mining ResearchStation. Dhanbad. Documentation list No.1published in the year 1964. contained the perio-dical holdings of this library. DocumentationList No.2. published in the year 1966 con-tained a list of translations. photocopie smicrofilms. films available in the CMRS Lib-rary. An yearly mimeographed publication.Library Bulletin. containing the list of addi-tions is al s o being published from CMRS.

Central Salt &, Marine Chemicals ResearchInatitute: Bhavnagar

A monthly classified documentation listof current scientific literature is being pub-1iahed from this organisation from the year1964.

Minerala &: Metals Trading Corporation ofIndia: New Delhi

Minerals News a mimeographed fort-night! yare published on 1st and 15th of eachmonth from thia organiaation. A good numberof Indian and foreign periodicals and dailiesare acanned for this news index service. Aquarterly commulative index is providedaeparately.

Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, PunjabUniversity: Chandigarh

The Centre has been established recentlyin the Department of Geology, Punjab Univer-aity. One of their research programme include

Vol 18 No 3 Sept 1971

compilation of bibliography on topics of geolo-gical interest. A single volume bibliography onHimalayan Geology has already been publishedby this centre.

National Geophysical Research Institute;Hyderabad

Bulletin, National Geophysical ReseatchInstitute is being published from the year 1963.An index to geophysical literature. primarilyrelated to India is appended at the end of eachissue.

Geochemical Society of India: Patna

Bulletin. Geological Society of India, aquarterly is being published from the year1965. A bibliography on a special topic 01

geology is a regular featur e of this periodical.So far bibliographies on charnockites andarnphibolite a- have been published.

Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre:New Delhi

With the publication of monthly IndianScience Abstracts from INSDOC, doc~mentationactivities in India has entered a new phase.This national abst r act irg service covers litera-ture published in Indian periodicals in all thebranches of science including geology.

Conclusion

Science in general has no geographicalboundary. A new development made in thefie!d of physics or chemistry will make theIndian physicists or chemists interested in itand vice versa. The case of geology is how-ever different. Pos sibil ity of locating zinc.copper. sulphur, oil etc .• not abundant inIndia, will make the Indian geologists moreinterested than its occurrence in any otherparts of the world. Infact unlike many of theother branches of science. geographicalboundary has a part to play in geological docu-mentation. Considering all these points.International Union of Geological Sciences.Antwerp, has requested all the member coun-tries to start national geological documentationservice. So the establishment of a nationalgeological documentation centre is neces saryfor proper services to the Indian Geologists andfor co-ordination of all the penumbral docu-mentation services in India.

137

CHAKRABORTY

Acknowledgement [4] Memoirs Geological Survey of India,Vol. 19, 1883.

The author is grateful to the DirectorGeneral, Geological Survey of India for thepermission given to him to publish the paper.

[s] Centenary of the Geological Survey ofIndia, 1851-1951: A short history of thefirst 100 years, Geological Survey of

ReferencesIndia, 1951.

[I]

[Z]

Encyclopaedia Britannica.[6] Asiatic Society of Bengal, Centenary

Review of the Researches of the Society,1784-1883, ASB, 1885.

RANGANATHAN, S R: Documentationand its Facets. 1963.

[3] [7] International Union of Geological Sciences,Circular Letter No. 16, Antwerp, 1966.

La TOUCHE, T H D: Bibliography ofIndian Geology and Physical Geography.1917.

Appendix - A

Chronology of Documentation Work in Indian Geology

Year of Publications Title of the Publication

Bibliography of Indiangeology cornp, by R. D. Oldham

1) 1888

Z) 1917 Bibliography of Indian geologyand physical geography comp ,by T. H. D. LaToucheBibliography of Indian geology,published as a part of the AnnualReport of the Director, GeologicalSurvey of India.

3) 1917-1957

4) 1936-1940 Indian Science Abstracts pub. byNational Institute of Sciences,New Delhi (contained geology asa part)

5) 195Z- Library Bulletin, GeologicalSurvey of India.

6) 1965- Indian Science Abstracts publishedby Indian National ScientificDocumentation Centre, New Delhi(contains geology as a part)

138

Years covered

1781-1887

1590-1911

1917-1957

1935-1938

195Z-

1965-

Ann Lib Sci Doc

<~ A BIBLIOGRAPHY~zo"'"C/lIt

"0...

0'

INDIAN GEOLOGY;..1.•

-.0....••... A :..ST OF BOOKS AND PAPERS,

•••• 'TI.O TO TN.

GEOLOGY OF BRITISH INDIA AND ADJOININGCOUNTRIES,

PUBLISHED PREVIOUS TO THE END OF A.D. 1887.

("""UD BY

R. D. OLDHAM. A.R.5.M., F.G.S.,DIPun sun.,Nn_oun o. TNIGKOLOOICAL 5UI.VET Or UfOIA.

PRELIMINARY ISSUE.

CALCUTT.\ :PRISTED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT. GOVERNMENT PRINTING, INDIA.

• 888.

•...'"-.0

Exhibit 1. The title page of the Bibliography of IndianGeology by R D Oldham, published from Calcuttain 1888.

A BIBLIOGRAPHY

(W

INDIAN GEOLOGY AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHYwnw eo

()

c~MZ>-:I>>-:I

5zo"1C)Mot"'oC)•...•()

>r-t"':::JM~>>-:IC~M

AN ANNOTATED INDEXor

MINERALS OF ECONOMIC VALUE

COMPILED BY T. H. D. LATOUCHE, M.A., F.G.S., FdlkT.JJ ofthe Asl4Ji&Society of B'tlral.

Published by order of the Go,.,.mllllt or India.

CALCUTU,BOLDAT Tn orJlCll 0' THI GEOLOOIC.lL IUIl'fg -or nIDI&.

11. CROWRIIIGIIIJ: ROAD.LOXDON. lIESSRIl. KIGAS PA!:!., TRESCH, TRe8sr.a • co .

len

Exhibit 2. The title page of the Indian Geology andPhysical Geography by T.R.D. La Touche, pub-lished from Calcutta in 1917

-~o

rtTGII-~ •• OEOLOQY or n."DLL

Fitch, Ralph.•• • II". TIle Voyar of •. Ralph Fitch, marchant of London,

by the .•••y of Tripolia in Syria, to Ormus, and 10 toGo. in tile E&at India, to Cambaia, end ell the king-dome of Zelabdin Echebar the great Mogor, to themighty river G.ngea, .nd down to Bengala, to Bacola,.Dd Chonder i, to Pegu, to Iamhay in the kingdome ofI:h.m, .nd backe to Pegu, and from thence to Malacca.Zeilan, Cochia, .nd .U the coast of the Eut Indi.•• •. 1l.uLl7YT'. Pri..cipal NalJigalimu, II,200-268.

---, ,ee &,11" 1. BorioD. 1638.

Fitzgerald, H.680 Jill. Dtlt.ailasur un rliamant trouv~ au Nium.t plus gtoa

que Ie Regent. L'["'tilul, XX, 119 (Abet., Bibl. U"'v.,Ser. 4, XX, 1~7; 41111. Sci. PAy', NaI.. LyoII, Set. 2, I,XIV).

Fleming, A.11I1-1. 1848. Report on the Salt Range, and on ita Coal and othu

Minerala. Jou •.••. A. S. B., XVII, Pt. 2, ~26.

-I. 1&41.[Exhibition of specimens of Fluor-Spar from Aden.)Proc. &y. Soc. Edinb., II, 159, 160.

-.1. U19. Diary of a trip to Pind Dadud Khan and the SaltRange. Jou •.••. A. S. B., XVIII, 661---4i93.

_. un. On the rocks of the Upper Puniaub, Rep. Brit. 41100.,XXII, Seclw"" 43 (Abstract).

-.1. ,An. Report on the Geological Structure and MineralWealth of the Salt Range in the Punjab. Journ. A.S. B., XXII, 2~!J.-.379, 333--368, 4H-462; Sel. Rec,PUlij. Uovt., II, No. 23, 253--381.

--G. IS51. On the Salt. Range of the Punjaub. Quart. JOlJrII,Geol. Soc., IX, Pt. I, 1~9--200.

)-tstst"0:C/l()•...

-7. 1151. On the Geology of part of the Soolims-i Range. QIUlrt.Journ.Ucol, Soc., IX, Pt. 1, 34t>-349; lI'esle", India,u~8~J().

~-691, 7 170

tjo()

Exhibit 3. A page from La Touche's bibliography. Thefirst entry in this page refers to a document published in1599.

( 397

XX\'IlI.

ON BARREN ISLAND AND ITS VOLCANO.

BY LIEUl ;;:NANT R. H. COLIBROOKE.

A BOUT fifteen league. to the eastward of the A"dama" isl~nds lies an

island which navigators, from its appearance, have justly called

Barren. On the rsth of May 1787, Captain K Y D and myself, bdng on

board the 'l'rial Snow, on a voyage to Pulo Pma"l, Barre» lilalld in

sight, bearing SSW. seven leagues distant, saw a column of smoke as-

cending from its summit, and by the help of our glasses plainly perceived

it to arise from a hill nearly in its center, around which appeared an

extensive valley, or crater , but being becalmed, we could not approach

nearer to examine it.

()

~~~)-OJo~~><

TH E following account of this remarkable ishnd is g.ivcn by Captain

B LA I R, in his. report of the Survey of the AIIIJa",all islands,

•• 1 LEFT that coast Marcb the 21St, and landed on Barrell lil471J on

•• the 24th.- The volcano was in a violent state of eruption, bursting

•• out immense volumes of smoke, and frequently fhowcrs of red hot

•• stOClCS. Some were of a size to weigh three or four tons, and had been

" thrown some hundred yards past the foot of the cone. There were

" two OJ" three eruptions while we were close to it; several of the redII hut

Exhibit 4. The first page of erJt~brook's note on Barrenisland published in the Asiatic Researches, vol 4, 397-400 pages, 1795. This is said to be the earliestgeoll),gical contribution published in English in India.