MINERALOGY. 



MINERAL COAL. 



The Mergui coal is regarded by the Coal Committee 

 as true mineral coal, but of inferior quality. A similar 

 coal is found on the banks of the Tenasserim north of the 

 latitude of Tavoy ; but Capt. Tremenheere regards both 

 as superior varieties of lignite, and it is believed correctly. 



" Lignite or brown coal r " says Hitchcock, " appears to 

 be peat which has long been buried in the earth, and has 

 undergone certain chemical changes, whereby bitumen 

 has been produced. Bituminous coal is probably the 

 same substance, which has been longer buried in the 

 earth, and has undergone stilL further changes." The 

 coal of the great Tenasserim valley appears to have been 

 so long buried in the earth, that the best parts of it are 

 better than ordinary lignite and equal to the inferior por- 

 tions of bituminous coal, which is true of beds of lignite 

 in other parts of the world. 



On the banks of the Little Tenasserim, coal of a superi- 

 or quality is said to exist, and in that direction further 

 examination ought to be made. Of that section of coun- 

 try I have no knowledge from personal observation, but 

 the Coal Committee say : " Eighty miles from Mergui in- 

 exhaustible beds of coal of an uniformly good quality oc- 

 cur on the Thian Khan, one of the main branches of the 

 Little Tenasserim. The various beds appear to be what 

 is called cannel coal, remarkable for consisting of up- 

 wards of 50 per cent of bitumen, which, to use the words 

 of Mr. James Princep, shews it to be a superior blazing 

 material, which is the main point in getting up steam." 



Coal has also been found on the banks of the Lenhea 

 river, south of Mergui ; but of this nothing is known. 

 It is a field fcr examination. 



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LIGNITE. 



Lignite, or brown coal, has been found in several locali- 

 ties. On the banks of a small tributary of the Tenasse- 

 rim, in about ten miles of latitude north of Tavoy, trunks 

 of trees changed to lignite may be seen in the stiff clay, 



