84 MALT>ET 



abandonment after a trifling quantity has been extracted. In the Makum 

 field tlie great thickness of coal at some outcrops^ and the circumstances 

 of its position^ as well as the comparatively low dips sometimes met with, 

 offer greater facilities for quarrying than are, I think, to be met with 

 elsewhere. But, even there, the total quantity that could be obtained 

 by such means is quite trifling compared to that within reach by mining. 



With reference to mining operations, the coal may be divided into 

 that below the level of the plains and that occurring in the hills above 

 the same level. The former must be worked by shafts or steep inclines, 

 and power provided both for draining the mines and raising the coal, 

 while the latter can, in many cases at least, be got at by adit workings, 

 which would drain themselves, and through which the coal could be run 

 out along the level. To the former division belongs most of the coal in 

 the Jaipur field and in the Saffrai ; to the latter a large proportion of the 

 coal in the Makum field and still more of that in the Dikhu valley. 



In both positions, the high, and sometimes rapidly varying, incli- 

 nations of the seams will render necessary a system of mining diflFerent 

 from that pursued in existing Indian coal mines. The quantity of 

 petroleum, accompanied by marsh gas, connected with the Assam coal, 

 is suggestive that fire-damp is another difiiculty that will have to be 

 contended with. Skilful superintendence, therefore, will be a necessary 

 condition involved in the successful opening out of the coal-fields. 



From the foregoing observations it will be seen that in the Makum 



field there is a large quantity of coal above 

 Relative advantages of the o j. 



different fields. the level of the plains, and that, although the 



Makum. 



coal is not very favorably placed for open 



workings, there are greater facilities for such in that area than in the fields 

 to the west. The seams are within 3 to 4 miles of the Dihing, the con- 

 struction of a road to which would involve no difiiculty. But the point 

 of shipment is 25 to 33 miles higher up stream than the Jaipur measures, 

 and where the river cuts through the Tipam range there are several 

 ( 352 ) 



