MINERALOGY. 5*/ 



and near them the trunks of other trees completely silici* 

 fied, and turned to stone. 



There is a great variety in this wood coal, both in its 

 appearance and chemical analysis. Dn Good all, to 

 whom I subjected spec im ens for analysis, wrote: "100 

 parts contain, , carbon, 



^9 bitumen* 



19 ashes. 



100 



The specimen was not good. Is it wood coal!" When 

 Mr. Blundell saw several baskets of the coal that he had 

 had brought in, he said it looked exactly like the first that 

 was brought him from the Mergui coal field. This must be 

 the coal referred to by the Coal Committee in their report 

 for 1841, in which they say : " More recently, excellent 

 specimens of coal have been presented to the Committee 

 by Mr. Blundell, the Commissioner of these Provinces, as 

 found somewhere on Tavoy river." No Coal has been 

 found on Tavoy river, and as this was the time when Mr. 

 Blundell obtained the specimens of this lignite from the 

 Tenasserim, there is doubtless an error in the reference 

 to the locality. The Committee Call it " Cannel coal," 

 which only proves that lignite is sometimes " a perfect 

 mineral coal ; " for that this coal is lignite, no one will 

 question who has visited the locality. 



The Committee also reported on a specimen of coal 

 from Maulmain as " Cannel coal," but Mr. O'Riley who 

 visited the locality whence it was said to have been 

 brought, says that if found in that neighbourhood, it must 

 be lignite. 



Dr. Morton recently furnished me with specimens of 

 lignite collected by the commander of the surveying ves- 

 sel on the coast, below Amherst. As the shore there for 

 many miles is covered with laterite, it is probably found 

 in that rock. Lignite occurs in laterite on the other 

 coast. 



Mr. O'Riley found lignite near the head waters of the 

 Ataran. He says : " Approaching the head waters of the 

 Ataran River where the strata are considerably elevated. 



