834 Mineral Resources of India. [No. 129. 



no opportunity has offered to enable me to give the Military Board 

 the slightest information relative to the stratum of coal in Burdwan. 



I am, Sir, &c. 



KlSSENGUNGE, J. DeLAMAIN, 



16^ January, 1809. Lieut. 7 th Regiment. 



Lieut. Delamain's discovery therefore was confined to picking up 

 some pieces of coal from the bed of the Dummooda in 1802, twenty- 

 eight years after Messrs. Heatly and Sumner had imported four 

 thousand maunds into Calcutta from the district, and while large heaps 

 from their mines were lying about the country, their origin being 

 familiarly known to the inhabitants. It is however interesting to see, 

 that this discovery of Lieut. Delamain anticipates that of Col. Shelton 

 years after, as the locality is precisely the same — the ford of Angbella, 

 on the Benares road. 



In 1814, under the spirited administration of the Marquis of 

 Hastings, the slumbers of the Military Board were once more disturb- 

 ed. Referring to the suspension of final orders on the 6th June, his 

 Lordship stated his anxiety to ascertain beyond a doubt, whether the 

 coal of India was of a quality calculated for the purposes of the forge. 

 So far from being discouraged by the results of previous experiments, 

 he considered them to afford a strong presumptive proof, that there is 

 coal here well calculated for military purposes ; that surface coal may 

 be expected to fail here as in England, where some of the excavations 

 reach the depth of 205 yards before proper coal is met with ; that a 

 qualified person will be despatched with the requisite apparatus, as 

 soon as possible, to any spot the Military Board think the best, 

 suggesting Cheenacoory to their consideration. 



The Board replied, that their information was too limited to permit 

 them to hazard an opinion ; suggested the Collectors of Pachete and 

 Burdwan as the best authorities, and recommended that the person to 

 be deputed should examine the district before commencing his boring, 

 and submit his plan of arrangements and details to Government for 

 their consideration. 



It was well known at this time, that Mr. Matthew Smith, an eminent 

 shipwright in Calcutta, used the Pachete coal to a large extent in his 



