832 Mineral Resources of India. [No. 129. 



kitchens it will be found a desirable substitute for charcoal, if the 

 expense of obtaining it should be less, and which must most likely be 

 the case where the facility of water conveyance is at hand. 

 May 19, 1809. T. Hardwicke. 



Under such demonstrative proof with the circumstances known to 

 all parties under which the sample was picked up, the Pachete coal 

 was once more doomed to be shelved. 



Simultaneously with the letter dispatched to the Burdwan Collec- 

 tor, similar instructions had been sent to the Collector of Bheerbhoom. 

 His answer stated, that coad had been discovered in the Zemindaree 

 of Jerrea ; that the beds were superficial, and have never been worked, 

 the natives being entirely unacquainted with the nature and qualities 

 of the substance / He further stated, that the coal was slaty and burn- 

 ed to white ashes without leaving any cinders : that it might be trans- 

 ported to Calcutta by the new road, at an expense of eighty-five Rs. 

 per 100 maunds, but by boat during the rains, the cost would be 

 twelve Rs. per 100 maunds. — Letter from Mr. Suttie to the Board 

 of Revenue, 2d June, 1809. 



The Governor General in Council, for the present suspends passing 

 any final orders on the subject of Lieut. Col. Hardwicke's report, res- 

 pecting the specimens exhibited of Pachete coal : it being the in- 

 tention of Government, at a convenient opportunity, to depute a 

 professional person into that district, for the purpose of making further 

 enquiries into the nature and situation of the coal in question.— *6th 

 June, 1809. 



It is necessary to say a word here of Lieut. Delamain's discovery, 

 not only because it is mentioned by Mr. Marriott in his letter, but 

 because the Coal Committee have assigned to it the palm of priority in 

 the district. On receiving the letter from Government, dated 19th 

 September, stating the orders to the Collector of Bheerbhoom, the 

 Military Board returned a reply on the 27th, saying, that they had 



