1842.] Second Report on the Tin of Mergui. 851 



and coloured cottons. It appears by a good specimen of rolled tin 

 stone in the possession of a native at Mergui, which Mr. Blundell has 

 shewn me, that near the head of the Palouk river, about thirty miles 

 north of Mergui, tin ore exists, and the specimen exhibits tin inter- 

 spersed in a rock very much resembling the ore of the Cornish mines. 

 The existence of tin in the Palouk river was known, and the late Dr. 

 Heifer proceeded on one occasion to examine it, but owing to indis- 

 position, was obliged to return without effecting his purpose. Between 

 the neighbourhood of Mergui and the Pakchou river, our southern 

 boundary, it also occurs at Bokpyeen, and in many streams near the 

 coast, but has not been much sought for, as this part of the province 

 is an uninterrupted jungle, with scarcely any inhabitants. 



15. All the tin sites in the Mergui province are believed to be healthy. 

 Kahan is situated on the bank of a large river, where it is more than 

 a mile broad, and a few miles only from the sea, while the spot itself is 

 open, and the level ground entirely free from jungle. The coal mine 

 lately worked on the Tenasserim river, sixty-four miles from Mergui, is 

 farther inland than any of the tin localities yet known, and the country 

 around is clothed with jungle to the summits of the highest hills ; the 

 parties of convicts employed there from December 1840 to October 

 1841, were not subjected to any remarkable degree of sickness, if their 

 daily employment at hard labour, and consequent exposure, is taken 

 into consideration. The European overseers and mechanics under 

 Lieut. Hutchinson were perfectly healthy, and the following Table 

 represents the proportion per cent, of native convicts reported sick at 

 Mergui for nineteen months successively, compared with the proportion 

 at the coal mine during the same period. 



5 T 



