KHASI HILLS. 195 



visiting the various points to the Westward of Cherra Poonjee and to- 

 wards Laour, where coal is stated to occur ; so that I can offer no opi- 

 nion wliatever as to the quality or amount of coal found there. If the 

 statements regarding the occurrence of thick beds of coal in this direc- 

 tion at slight elevations above the level of the plains be credible, the 

 district would reward a careful examination. It could only be visited 

 with any safety, during the cold weather. If coal exist there in any 

 quantity, the probabilities are that it would be found to be very simi- 

 lar to the coal of Cherra Poonjee in quality. And independently al- 

 together of the statements of observers, the general dip or inclination 

 of the rocks, with which the coal is associated, (and to which I have 

 alluded before) renders it tolerably certain that it must occur at 

 a considerably lower elevation than the coal near to Cherra 

 Poonjee. 



I have not entered into the question of the possibility of bringing 

 these Coals 'profitably to market ; nor did I feel justified in devoting 

 any of the short time at my disposal in these hills to the investigation 

 of any engineering projects for this purpose, further than was necessary 

 for ascertaining the comparative economy of the various plans hitherto 

 proposed. I was satisfied that any mixed system of transit, partly by 

 ordinary conveyances, and partly by machinery, would fail. I was also 

 satisfied that no one of the localities referred to, taken singlj^, held out 

 a prospect of sufficient coal to yield a fair return on the outlay required 

 for such works for its conveyance. But-at the same time I was con- 

 vinced that, were all these localities in the possession of the same 

 persons, possessed of sufficient skill and energy, and who would work 

 each in succession (the needful machinery for such operations beino- 

 transferred from one site to the other) it would be possible to ren- 

 der the undertaking a profitable one. 



Into the details of any such plan it is not my province to enter ; 

 but I am certain that a little experience in the more economical systems 



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