1835.] Further Discovery of Coal Beds in Assam. 705 



supply of it has been brought down for me to Gowahalti, from which, on 

 my return, I will dispatch a good quantity to you. Of course what 

 we have now to show are merely chance pieces, brought in by persons 

 we put in search, and many of them are slaty and earthy ; but what 

 I send you, is sufficient, I hope, to show that there are good coal beds 

 connected with these. I do not exactly know the site of this deposit ; 

 but I believe it has the advantage of being within reach of navigable 

 nullahs ; it is on a nullah falling into the Jumuna, a river which divides 

 Cachar from Assam, and joins the Kopili, the Kalung, (a branch of 

 the Brahmaputra,) and other streams entering the Brahmaputra, a 

 little above Gowahatti. This will be a most convenient site whence to 

 draw supplies of coals, if the quality turns out suitable for steamers, 

 whenever there be occasion for sending any in this direction. It now 

 becomes almost certain that we shall find very large supplies of this 

 invaluable mineral on the south bank of the Brahmaputra ; we know 

 already of four places where coal has been found, viz. 1st, under the 

 Caribari hills ; 2ud, that of the Dharmpur Pergunnah ; 3rd, on the 

 Suffry, a nullah near the Borhat salt formation, and 4th, on the Noa 

 Dihing, in the Singpho district, south of Sadiya. We may besides 

 of course confidently expect to find coal on many intermediate spots, 

 when we come to be better acquainted with the province. 



Note. — The three specimens of Assamese coal, received with the 

 above note, turn out to be of very respectable quality ; they are rather 

 slaty in fracture, and do not coke ; but burn with a rich flame, being 

 very bituminous : on this account they would be very suitable for 

 steam engine fires, thougli unfit for the forge, or for the smelting 

 furnaces. Analysed in the usual way, they yielded the following 

 ingredients : 



No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. 



Volatile matter, expelled by coking process, .... 6.1.1 56.9 62.8 



Carbon, ascertained by incineration of coke, .... 29.6 31.1 29.0 



Earthy residue, 7.3 12.0 8.2 



100.0 100.0 100.0 



The weight of the three coals gives a somewhat different result. 

 No. 2, being the lightest, and consequently the least earthy, of the 

 three. 



viz : No. 1. has a specific gravity, 1.226 



2, 1.196 



3 1.223 



J. P. 



