On the Tenasserim Coal Field. 419 



was very variable, but there is, one point excepted, abundance of 

 water way, and no other obstructions than the banks just described. 

 At the point alluded to, the stream was restricted to seventy feet, 

 wi:;i a current of three and a half knots. The current at other 

 parts being about two knots. 



4. The time occupied in proceeding from Mergui, in a boat drawing 

 two feet of water, was four days. Delays occurred at each of the 

 shoals, but not of long duration ; the gravel was easily moved with 

 the aid of the current, and the boat dragged over it. 



5. It has been mentioned that the general course of the river 

 above Tenasserim is from north to south, which is likewise the case at 

 the locality of the coal. It here passes through a valley four miles 

 long in this direction, and two miles across in its broadest part from 

 east to west. On the east it is bounded by a high range of hills to 

 which the river is nearly parallel ; and on the west by a minor 

 range which touches the river at its northern and southern extremities, 

 and turns away from it one mile in the centre. There is a gorge 

 at the central part of this minor range, giving rise to a stream which 

 has been hitherto known as the Coal Nullah, as the coal was first 

 pointed out by the late Dr. Heifer in the bank of that stream at the 

 point marked I in the plan, from which spot the coal exported re- 

 cently from Mergui has been obtained. 



6. The bed of coal, which has been worked under the superintend- 

 ence of Second- Lieutenant Hutchinson, is six feet in thickness, and 

 crops out to the clay in the left bank of the stream ; its upper surface 

 being on a level with the water in the dry season, and covered by a 

 few feet of shale with the soil above. It dips to the east, or towards 

 the river, at an angle varying from 24 to 29 degrees. There are 

 several smaller seams below this alternating with clay to the depth of 

 eighteen feet, but the upper one of six feet is the only workable bed. 



7. The mine was opened from the outcrop of the coal, and carried 

 down the angle of dip; the chief working has been to the left or north 

 of the first excavation, as the dip on that side is less by five degrees. 

 Being situated in the bed of the stream, and covered only by porous 

 material, it was much impeded by water during the rains, and though 

 the course of the stream was turned, the pumps in use, of five inch 

 diameter and one foot lift, were insufficient for unwatering the mine 

 at each fall of rain and rise of the water level in its immediate vici- 



