118 Correspondence. 



appear at an acute angle, and even vertical — while they are so opposite- 

 ly placed as to convey the idea that at this point some confined force 

 had found an outlet and split the incumbent bed. The rock runs up to 

 a peak. 



On one face of the peak a thick deposit of marly earth is seen, and on it 

 an abundance of vegetation thrives. At the seaward point of the rock, 

 and barely above high-water mark, the coal is found. The sandstone 

 strata here, though not so highly distorted as in the more central part, 

 is still at an acute angle. It is intersected by a bed of fatty marl, of 

 about a foot in thickness, and amidst its substance, and sometimes in a 

 shaley deposit, the lumps of coal are found. I say lumps, for as yet no 

 continuous seam of coal has been discovered, but all is yet in its infancy, 

 for, besides scratching the surface soil for a few inches, nothing has been 

 done to test the extent of the formation. I confess when I look at the 

 position of the place I see no immediate prospect of a supply of coals, 

 and taking the difficulties of keeping out the water into consideration, 

 (even supposing that a continuous seam was found) with the great dip 

 of the strata, nothing but an outlay for machinery could fairly test it. 

 Specimens of the rock and the coal I herewith forward. They are 

 marked respectively. Leaving the Cap island, the next locality that 

 I visited was the point of land on the island of Ramree most con- 

 tiguous to the Cap island. From the direction of the out-cropping 

 coal strata at the Cap island it was inferred that similar indications 

 might be found at the point of land now adverted to, and a close search 

 being made by Colonel Hervey a formation identical with that at the 

 Cap island was found with thin traces of coal. The dip here is equal- 

 ly great with that at the Cap island, and would require a shaft to be 

 sunk through the intervening sandstone stratum to enable the searcher 

 to ascertain if a bed of coal of any consistence did exist. 



At the point of land here referred to, a range of sandstone hills abut, 

 and it is on the plane piece of land to the north-east of these hills, tak- 

 ing the direction of the dip of the strata into consideration, that I would 

 propose that a trial should be made, if any such be hereafter resolv- 

 ed on. 



Every disposition exists on the part of those in authority at Kyuk 

 Phyu to carry out the wishes of the Coal Committee, but they say, and 

 say justly, that they have no funds placed at their disposal for doing so, 

 and out of their own pocket it is too much to expect that they should 

 defray the charges. The consequence is, as I have before remarked, the 

 poor labourers are left to go unpaid, and great dissatisfaction is felt accor- 



