1842.] Mineral Resources of India. 813 



lead, silver and sulphur mines ; the boring of cannon ; the casting of 

 shells and shot ; the glazing of earthen pottery ; the manufacture of 

 porcelain ware ; of soda and potash ; of salt ; the introduction of maho- 

 gany and other plantations ; sugar ; cotton ; the establishment of fisheries 

 at the mouth of the Hooghly ; the reclamation of waste lands in the 

 Soonderbuns and in northern Bengal : each, and all, these belong to 

 the last century — the days of Hastings, Clavering and Francis ; of 

 McPherson and Cornwallis. With the last indeed came in a spirit of 

 anti-colonization ; all encouragement to European enterprize and 

 ability to work out the capabilities of the empire ceased. The subject 

 being thus deprived of present interest, it is not singular that the me- 

 mory of past occurrences should have fleeted by in a society consti- 

 tuted as is that of India. The retirement of some, the circulation of 

 others into distant parts of the country, and the death of the rest, effaced 

 at an early period the remembrance of what had been done : and the 

 active duties imposed on all by the subsequently rapid extension of the 

 British rule, left neither leisure nor inclination to the new comers to 

 preserve the fading legends. 



Having had my attention drawn some time ago to the history of min- 

 ing in Bengal, and the liberality of Government in permitting access to 

 their records having enabled me to extend my researches considerably, I 

 propose to arrange their results in the course of two or three papers, in 

 the hope of rescuing from " dim forgetfulness," the recollection of deeds 

 and men already passing into the historical era. I could wish also to 

 stimulate those who possess authentic information relative to the deve- 

 lopment of other branches of Indian industry to do so likewise, while it 

 is in their power. Not a few of the documents registered in govern- 

 ment offices, which would have thrown much light upon my task, no 

 longer exist. A few short years, and what is now difficult, will become 

 impossible. 



Memoir on the Discovery and Working of Coal. 



The earliest documents which I have been able to trace con- 

 taining notices of the existence of coal in Bengal, bear date 1774, 

 and they concur in assigning the priority of discovery and working 



