166 KANIGANJ COAL FIELD. [Pt. II. CHAP. II. 



the one originally taught to the native miners by Mr. Jones.* This 

 consists in chipping out a small hollow, by means of the crowbar, near 

 the bottom of the face of coal to be cut away, and then bringing down 

 the coal from above, in blocks of no great size, by means of wedges 

 and hammers. An opening at the side of the end of the gallery being 

 thus made, wedges and crowbars, driven into the joints, bring down 

 the coal from the side of the part cut into. The portion below the 

 hollow first cut is afterwards broken out. Where the gallery is high, 

 the upper part is worked away first, and then the lower portion is 

 wedged out from above. In most mines, where proper supervision is 

 exercised, the galleries are regularly eut, and kept of even width and 

 straight, but in some, under native management, the greatest irregu- 

 larity prevails, and the miners cut the galleries much as they please, 

 their object of course being to cut coal any how, provided they get out 

 as much round coal as possible. 



It is evident that either of these systems of cutting is inferior to the 

 plan adopted in England of " holeing under," that is, cutting with a 

 pick a deep groove at the bottom of the face of coal, then cutting two 

 narrow vertical grooves, and bringing down the mass of coal either by 

 wedges or blasting. It would probably be impossible to trust native 

 miners with gunpowder, which, as there is no fire-damp, and the et roofs" 

 are excellent, might, with careful workmen, be largely and economi- 

 cally employed, but even with wedges, and by using the pick, pro- 

 vided so great a change could by any means be effected in the habits 

 of the workmen, a much larger quantity of coal could, with ease, be 

 cut, and, at the same time, a larger proportion of round coal would 



* It is a remarkable circumstance that, although, forty-five years ago, coal mining was 

 unknown in India, the miners have now become so attached to a particular method, and to the 

 employment of particular tools, that they resist the attempt to introduce any alteration as 

 severely as if the innovation interfered with their religious ceremonies. An attempt was 

 made to induce the Chinakuri miners to teach the use of the pick to those of Raniganj, but 

 the latter rose tipon the former, drove them out of the place, and burned their houses down. 



