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



grounds of my opinion. A thousand maund boat can be hired at per 



Mensem... 30 



" 10 Dandies at 3 Rupees each, 30 



" 1 Manji at 4 Rupees, 4 



64 

 2 



128 

 This boat should carry 800 maunds, which just gives 2 annas 6J 

 pice per maund, so that at this rate Cherra coal ought to be delivered 

 in Calcutta at 7 annas per maund ; Major Carter therefore expresses 

 his surprise that an offer recently made by the Marine Board, of 

 9 annas for Cherra coal, had not been taken up, and suggests that 

 if boats of 2 or 3000 maunds, such as are used for bringing wood from 

 the Sunderbunds, were employed as far as the rivers would admit, the 

 carriage would be still lower. 



The readiness with which boats may be had for any regular trade, 

 may be imagined by the following observation of Major Carter : — 

 " Hundreds of large boats frequent the Sunderbunds, nearly as far as 

 Dacca, in search of cargoes of rice and dhan, the worth very little 

 more in ordinary years than coal, and the latter scarcely one half 

 as valuable ; they do not find their cargoes at one place, or belonging 

 to one person, but attend the banks, and purchase in whatever 

 quantities the people bring to the market, often only a few seers, and 

 seldom exceeding a few maunds." 



The Commissariat regulations, and general custom of paying boat- 

 hire on a computed distance instead of the time actually employed, 

 might in the first instance militate against the economy of any 

 arrangement for hiring boats, says Major Carter ; but if a few boats 

 were purchased or built at Dacca or in the Sunderbunds, and manned 

 by a private individual, the result would prove the correctness of 

 these calculations. A good boat could be built for 500 rupees, and 

 in six trips, at the above rate, would yield 300 rupees, leaving 60 for 

 casual repairs, this would repay itself in less than two years ; but a 

 boat is expected to last seven or eight. 



Cuttack. 

 About ten years ago a specimen of coal found in the Cuttack 

 district was sent to the Asiatic Society, probably with some particulars 

 which do not appear to have been noted in the proceedings ; the 

 circumstance was however suggested to the Committee by Captain 

 Jenkins, in 1837, and soon after Lieut. Kittoe, then with his regi- 



