194 KflASI HILLS. 



to a hasty observer the thickness of the bed of coal, although tlie ac- 

 tual thickness is only from a to c. In this way a bed of only five or 

 six feet thick might assume an appearance of being 20 or 30 feet thick. 



In the foregoing estimate I have confined myself entirely to the 

 coal found in the small ridge to the West of the station of Cherra 

 Poonjee, and in which the adits hitherto worked are situated. The coal 

 which occurs at the village of Lairungoo or Surareem is, from the great- 

 ly increased distance and increased elevation ( some 700 feet ), entirely 

 precluded from being profitably brought to market under present con- 

 ditions, while the small patches of coal which show on the road between 

 Cherra Poonjee and Surareem, are too limited in extent, too much dis- 

 turbed, and too poor in quantity, to be worth considering at all. 



The coal at Bairung has proved very bad and earthy, and is in 

 small quantity ; and although possibly useful for lime-burning, brick 

 making or other such local purposes, would not yield any coal, which 

 would repay the cost of transport to market. 



The coal which is found to the South of Nonkradem is more fa- 

 vourably placed than any of the others, and there is probably a large 

 amount of it available ; but from the way in which it is seen, it would 

 be impossible to form any opinion as to its extent, without expensive 

 boring operations. 



As to the quantity of coal existing in the Lakadong coal-field, it 

 is difficult to form anything like a very accurate estimate, owing to the 

 great irregularity of its development. I think we may, however, fairly 

 take the quantity of coal easily accessible as being equal to one-half 

 a square mile with an average thickness of three feet, which would give 

 about 1,500,000 cubic yards or tons of coal or about 40,500,000 cubic 

 feet or maunds. The cost of transport of coal from Lakadong to Calcutta 

 is something less than from Cherra. 



The season of the year, and the consequent very unhealthy state 

 of the swampy jungles at the base of the hills, entirely prevented my 



