HISTORY OF COAL DISCOVERIES. 9 



In a letter to Major Jenkins written in 1845, Captain Hannay 



described his search in the neighbourhood of Jai- 

 Captain Hannay, 1845. 



pur for petroleum. His principal endeavour seems 



to have been to find a bituminous rock like that of Pyremont, a sample 



of which he had been supplied with by Mr. Piddington. In this he was 



unsuccessful, but he obtained some specimens of '' earthy and indurated 



sandy asphalte'^ near a spot about two miles from Jaipur, called ' Nahor 



Dung-',* where it was found along with ordinary oil. These specimens 



were no doubt of earth and sandstone impregnated with inspissated 



petroleum. In the same neighbourhood he also found a small quantity 



of impure limestone. 



Captain Hannay also appears to have visited the Namchik river. 

 " At Namtchuk Pathar" (he writes), "near the mouth of the river, the 

 petroleum exudes from the banks, and a bed of very fine coking coal 

 runs across the bed of the Namtchuk. The hills here are also intersected 

 by ravines, and in one spot an extensive basin or hollow is formed at 

 some height, which contaias muddy pools in a constant state of activity, 

 throwing out, with more or less force, white mud mixed with petroleum. 

 This is, indeed, a strange looking place, and I am told by the Singphos 

 that at times there is an internal noise as of distant thunder, 

 when it bursts forth suddenly with a loud report, and then for a time 

 subsides.^''t 



In the latter part of 1847, Major Hannay had two quarries open at 

 Jaipur on opposite banks of the Dihing, and was 

 of opinion that a supply of coal fully equal to the 

 requirements of Government could be obtained from these if boats were 

 forthcoming for its carriage. Unless, however, the requirements of 

 Government at that time were very small, Major Hannay must have 

 over-estimated the producing capacity of such quarries. He describes 



* Nalior Pung. 



f Journal, Asiatic Society, Bengal, Vol. XIV, p. 817. 



B . ( 377 ) 



