1840.] Report of the Coal Committee. 20] 



found " an irregular vein of coal, of about a foot in thickness, mixed 

 with broken red sandstone, and on working below it, he came to a 

 kind of clay slate and eventually to water." Mr. Lumsden, however, 

 states that he was obliged from fatigue to leave the work to a native, 

 who in a few days brought to him 120 maunds of coal — a larger 

 quantity than we should have supposed a native could procure in 

 so short a time, under circumstances described by Mr. Lumsden. A 

 sample of this coal, consisting of four or five maunds, was brought 

 to Calcutta by Captain Bogle, and tried in the Laboratory of the 

 Honorable Company's Dispensary, and found to burn with a clear 

 bright flame and very little smoke. The following are the results of 

 its analysis :— 



Specific gravity, ... ... ... ... .. 1.28 



Inflammable matter, ... ... ... ... 40 



Carbon, ... ... ... ... ... 54 



Ferruginous ash, ... ... ... ... 6 



100 

 It is a free burning coal, giving out a strong heat, and would no doubt 

 be found suitable to steam purposes, as it is quite free from the sulphure- 

 ous impregnation which rendered the former samples of Arracan coal 

 objectionable. 



The want of more satisfactory information than we yet possess 

 regarding Arracan coal is much to be regretted, as there is no part of 

 India in which good coal mines could be attended with more advan- 

 tage, whether we regard the situation on the coast, or the peculiar 

 circumstances of the province itself. This district is chiefly known to 

 Europeans by the mortality that took place there during the late war. 

 Few are aware that within twenty miles of the town of Arracan, 

 there is a fine elevated chain of mountains, extending parallel to the 

 coast, and affording no doubt as fine a climate as any part of the 

 world, although the coast itself is low, and like many similar tracts in 

 the north of Italy, and south of Europe, unhealthy. Let good coal be 

 once discovered in abundance in this fertile province, and the deadly 

 effect of climate to persons exposed in miserable boats, or damp huts 

 surrounded by swamps, will disappear, and the indolent streams 

 become the track of steamers, perhaps to the very foot of the hills, 

 which might thus become available as places of residence. 



Sylhet. 



Although the attention of the Coal Committee has been con- 

 stantly directed to this quarter, the only result accomplished since the 



2d 



