204 Report of the Coal Committee. [No. 98. 



possible delay, compatible with the fair trial of the experiment. The 

 Kasyahs, on whom the burden of the experiment will literally fall, 

 though a fine athletic race, are little accustomed to labour; Major 

 Lister may therefore have some difficulty at first in reconciling a 

 sufficient number of them to a continued effort, the object and im- 

 portance of which, they can so little understand. 



It is necessary to take the quality of coal into account before 

 any particular price per maund can be regarded as dear or cheap ; it is 

 quite incredible to what degree a slight difference in quality affects 

 the value of coal, for steam vessels. It has been found by means of 

 the only trial instituted between Cherra and other coals now in use, 

 that 9 maunds are equal to 14 of Burdwan coal. Let us suppose 

 (without laying too much stress on a single trial of a few maunds) the 

 proportionate value of the two coals to be ascertained as above ; 100 

 maunds of Cherra would not only as a fuel be equal to 155.5 of 

 Burdwan, but we should also have to debit to the latter the value 

 of 55.5 maunds stowage or tonnage, which might amount to more 

 than the entire value of the coal consumed. 



The Cherra Poonji coal forms the cap of a hill, from which each 

 cooly may help himself to his load almost without the aid of mining, 

 so that the carriage, 4 annas per maund from the pit to the nearest 

 navigable river, though high, may be said to include the expense 

 of winning, or bringing coal to the surface. Could any of the following 

 indications of coal lower down, towards the foot of the mountain, be 

 found to yield good supplies, a portion, or nearly the whole of this 

 large item of expense might be saved, viz. 1. Tipperah hills, in a small 

 river which descends from a hill with a Musulman Doorga called Or- 

 peen, on its summit ; 2. Opposite to Jalalgur, in Lowr ; 3. Path river, 

 and several streams descending from the Garrow mountains ; 4. Near 

 Susung ; 5. On the top of one of the lower ranges at Lowr, and in the 

 rivers of Lowr ; 6. In the Dysung and its tributaries ; 7- Between Pan- 

 nalik and Bansekora ; 8. Barachara ; (vide reports of the Coal Com- 

 mittee, pp. 49, 50, 51) to which we have now added By rung Poonjie, 

 Chaila, and Mustuk, (vide para. 13, 14, and 15, of the present report.) 



The rate of boat-hire from the Sylhet district, along the verge 

 of which the coal formation lies, to Surdah on the Ganges, one of 

 the principal depots for the supply of steamers, is stated by Mr. 

 H. Inglis to be 21 rupees per 100 maunds. In regard to water 

 conveyance, Sylhet has the advantage of any of the coal districts 

 to the westward, while its proximity to the great rivers of Bengal 

 gives it an advantage over the Assam coal districts ; and thus while 



