430 On the Tenasserim Coal Field. 



29. There is no apprehension of a deficiency of bamboos for their 

 construction for an unlimited period, but to secure an unfailing 

 supply within a moderate distance of the coal field, and to prevent 

 waste and destruction by the contractors supplying the rafts, the ser- 

 vices of a native supervisor are necessary. The wages of such a person 

 are provided for in the estimate of future expenses. 



30. On the 2nd of May I quitted the coal field. The river had then 

 risen one cubit, but it fell afterwards to its former level. The water 

 this year was considered unusually low. Some loaded rafts which 

 had been despatched on the first rise, were, after proceeding a few 

 miles, detained at one of the shallows, and had not arrived at Mergui 

 on the 20th, the day on which I embarked. 



G. B. Tremenheere, Capt. 

 Executive Engr. Tenasserim Provinces. 

 Moulmein 30th June, 1841. 



The Assam Tea Plant. 



The Agricultural Society in awarding its medal to Capt. Charlton, 

 the discoverer of the Assam Tea plant, appears to have vindicated its 

 own independence, and established that gentleman's claims to the 

 discovery of the plant, as first ascribed to him by Dr. Wallich, but 

 afterwards, for some unaccountable reason, denied by the same, 

 authority. 



On the arrival of Dr. Wallich and his companions at Suddya, 

 in January 1836, he took up his quarters in the house of Capt. 

 Charlton, which had been allotted to his accommodation by its owner, 

 free of expense, during his stay in Upper Assam. 



Here the Deputation had an opportunity, for the first time, of 

 inspecting the Tea plant growing in Assam. Capt. Charlton's com- 

 pound had been converted into a tea nursery, to which he appears to 

 have devoted much attention, the plants generally being from two feet 

 to three feet in height, and probably about one or two thousand in 

 number. 



Shortly before the arrival of the Deputation, the enclosure surround- 

 ing the nursery, (the first ever formed under European superinten- 

 dence in Assam,) had been trampled down, and the plants destroyed in 

 a great measure by cattle. This would seem to have happened during 

 the absence of Captain Charlton on the service on which he was 



