426 On the, Tenasserim Coal Field. 



ceive, at one period a continuous bed. A quantity of hard specimens 

 were collected at the- points d d as soon as the coal was pointed out, 

 but being on a level with and below the water, with a high precipitous 

 bank above, the depth of the bed could not be ascertained imme- 

 diately. 



21. Instructions have been left with Lieutenant Hutchinson to 

 penetrate the coal near the two points d d, and report on the thick- 

 ness of the working bed without delay. 



22. Section No. 3, which is taken in a direction from west to 

 east, from the gorge of the lesser range at G to the east bank of the 

 river at m, shews the relative positions of the coal which has 

 been worked, and the bed d d at the point m, where the section 

 strikes the opposite bank. It includes the shafts and other ex- 

 cavations, the depths of which are shewn at their proper level. The 

 space between these and the river is covered by sands, clays, and 

 other superficial deposits, without any indication of coal. The beds 

 are broken off abruptly along the line A B, and the depth at which 

 they might be found on the west side of the river, in the absence 

 of any other indication than the disturbed strata at 1, 2, 3, 4, would 

 subject to much uncertainty. The space to the northward of this 

 between the line G, W, H, and the outcrop of coal at d, and the 

 points d z, would be subject to the same chances ; but supposing the 

 bed to be continuous with regularity across the river to the south, 

 it would not be reached at any intermediate point between z and m, 

 along this line, at less depth than 330 feet below the lowest level 

 of the river. 



23. For these reasons I am compelled to recommend that the 

 work hitherto prosecuted on the west bank shall be entirely abandoned, 

 and, if it be desired to raise coal from this coal field, that the opera- 

 tions may be transferred to the other side of the river, within the 

 limits of the space marked by a dark shade on the plan and bounded 

 by the igneous dykes before mentioned. The coal measures within 

 this space he in a manner unusually favourable for mining, as, inde- 

 pendent of their moderate angle of dip, they are protected from all but 

 surface waters by the high inclination of strata on the outer side 

 of the igneous dyke O, which dips away from them to the east at an 

 angle of 30°, and the coal may he reached within the limits of the 

 space o d and d o in the plan, at such depth as may be selected with 

 reference to the extent of work intended, vide Sections No. 1 and 2. 



