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Brigadier Twfmlow, on Artificial Fuel. Received from the Agri- 

 cultural Society. 

 To the Secretary to the Agricultural and Horticultural Society 

 of Calcutta. 



Ellichpoor, 30th August, 1841. 



Sir, — With reference to the notice contained in my letter of the 

 2nd instant, regarding clearing forest lands for cultivation, whilst 

 making a substitute for coal, I have the honor to state, that this is 

 a subject which I endeavoured to bring into notice so far back as the 

 month of August of the year 1833, (copy of letter annexed.) 



The following are some of the ingredients which might, I conceive, 

 be mixed with charcoal, or inferior coals : — 



1st. Bitumen, Pitch, and Tar, (obtained when burning the charcoal 

 in inclined cylinders or furnaces.) 



2nd. Oils, a small quantity of lime added to give packing con- 

 sistency. 



3rd. Gum Resins, extracts from Cactus and other Milky Plants and 

 Trees, and Unctuous Clay. 



4th. Seeds of Cotton ; Oil Plants ; refuse of Mills ; of Distilleries ; 

 Fecula of Flax, Hemp, Indigo, &c. 



5th. If the properties or smell of the above are objectionable, the 

 mode adopted with success by the natives of India generally, for 

 making charcoal fire balls for hookahs, by using the starch of rice or 

 other grains might perhaps be the best, as most universally practicable. 



Once made an article of commerce, the pressed charcoal, whether in 

 bricks, balls, or blocks, would be brought to the coast by Binjurrah 

 Tandahs* going down to the coast for salt and other articles ; the turbu- 

 lent hill tribes,f would without being aware of it, cut down their at 

 present almost inaccessible forest dens of refuge ; and lands once cover- 

 ed with rich cultivation, such as those near the Taptee and other 

 rivers, would again put on the garb of civilization, instead of being, as 

 at present, the resort of the bison, the wild dog, sheep, and goat. 



* Tandah, a community of Binjarrah ; some having a thousand head of cattle. 



f If the Bheel corps had each a company of Miners and Pioneers attached, disco- 

 veries, mineral and geological, would follow. The cave-making Ancients found their 

 advantage in such excavations. 



