1840.] Report of the Coal Committee. 199 



steam purposes. 50 pounds tried in the still furnace laboratory of the 

 Honorable Company's Dispensary, afforded four gallons of distilled 

 water, and left a residue of four pounds weight of ashes, cinders, and 

 small coal that fell through the bars of the furnace during combustion. 

 Its specific gravity is 1.27 

 Composition, 



Water, 9 



Volatile matter, 46 



Carbon, 40 



Ash 5 



100 



The distance of this coal in a direct line from the coast being only 

 twenty-eight miles, Lieut. Hutchinson proposed to construct a road, 

 which he supposed would reduce the expense of delivery on the coast 

 considerably. Boats of large draught it is said, may ascend the Tenasse- 

 rim river at all seasons to Tenasserim town, within twenty-nine miles 

 of the coal, and during the rainy season to the coal itself, so that 

 nothing could be more favourable than the position of this coal for 

 all purposes of local improvement, as well as for steam navigation 

 to the eastward. Forty tons of this coal cost 5^ annas per maund at 

 Mergui, and 8 annas per maund in Calcutta. The Government have 

 called upon Mr. Blundell, the Commissioner of the Tenasserim provinces, 

 to provide 50,000 maunds ; and have furnished a working party, con- 

 sisting of persons accustomed to mining, for the purpose, and have in- 

 trusted the superintendence of the necessary operations to Lieutenant 

 Hutchinson. 



We have been informed by Captain Lloyd, I.N., that about one 

 degree lower down the coast, coal has been found of very good quality 

 on the Senhea river, but the Committee have no information on this 

 head, although some progress had been made in raising a quantity, 

 when the work was discontinued in consequence probably of the 

 more favourable position of the coal near Tenasserim. The Senhea 

 coal is situated, Capt. Lloyd thinks, about 11° 22' N. lat., and 99° 8' 

 E. long, about forty miles up the river, the navigation of which is 

 doubtful. It is however the most southern point at which coal has been 

 hitherto found on the Malay coast. 



A detached fragment of an inferior coal called Anthracite by some, 

 has been found near Maulmain, latitude 16° 30' N. thus indicating 

 the presence of coal formations between the Tenasserim coal fields, 

 12° N. latitude, and Arracan 19° N. latitude, and holding out strong 

 inducements to further search being instituted in that quarter. 



