THE COAL OF ASSAM. 



coal at Mawbelakur confirms all that was then made known regarding 

 these deposits. It is here^ no doubt, of local importance ; it will save 

 nearly half the cost of carriage to the new station of Yeodoj and may 

 supply that demand for many years to come.* 



It is probable that the statement of the non-existence of coal in 



Kamroop is final. There is reason to believe that 



amroop. ^^^ ^^^ j^.^^ .^ ^^^ southern and central parts of 



this district are of crystalline rocks ; and, unless the reported discovery of 

 coal in the northern hills by some Officer of the Dooar Field Force 

 proves to be very different from what I found in Durrung, there is little 

 to be expected in that direction. 



The discovery, long since published, by Dr. Hooker, of rocks of the 

 Indian Coal Measure period at the foot of the 

 ezpoor. Sikhim Himalaya had at first given me consi- 



derable hopes of some useful coal-deposits on the north of the Bramah- 

 pootra Valley. This expectation was in a great degree banished by the 

 information given me by Captain Godwin Austin, just as I was starting 

 for Assam, that on the Bhootan Frontier he had observed the crystalline 

 rocks at the very edge of the plains. Thus it seemed that the con- 

 tinuity which is generally so marked in the Himalayan sections could 

 not be counted on here. My hopes were, however, again raised regarding 

 the Tezpoor or Durrung coal on hearing from the Commissioner that a 

 trial of twenty maunds of it had given the most encouraging results as 

 to its value for a fuel. I regret to have to report the total failure of 



* As an instance of the inconsiderate criticism to which geologists are frequently sub- 

 jected it was remarked to me as extraordinary, that Mr. Oldham had not discovered this 



coal at Mawbelakur ; now any one who intelligently reads the report in question must see, 

 that it is only a sketch from observations made at intervals during the hot weather recess, 

 and does not in any degree pretend to be exhaustive; and further, that the facts 

 exhibited regarding the uncertain occurrence of this coal would render the search for it 

 something like a wild goose chase. 

 ( 393 ) 



