1848.] Proceedings of the Asiatic. Society. 167 



Exchanged. 



The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, No. 209. 



Purchased. 



Journal des Savants, September, 1847. 



The History of India, by the Hon'ble Mountstuart Elphinstone, 2 vols. 8vo. 



Report of the Curator of the Museum of Economic Geology for the month of 

 December 1847, and January 1848. 



Economic Geology — Major Jenkins has forwarded to us some very beautiful 

 specimens of Coal from Assam, from the last vein opened at Jaipur, the mines 

 of which (for there are two of them) are situated on the opposite banks of the 

 old Booree Dehing river. He accompanies it with the following extracts from 

 Major Hannay's letters to him. 



Extracts from letters from Major Hannay, 



" In a previous letter he had stated that the native contractor who is now dig- 

 ging the coal had allowed the superincumbent stratum of clay and earth to fall 

 over — he says, 21st October. 



' I have at last cleared out the coal again, and if there were only boats, coal 

 sufficient to last all the cold season could be sent off immediately.' 



The ravine beyond the present coal, which rests on clay slate shows coal also, 

 but apparently being superincumbent to the main mine; the coal is in small 

 quantity, the uppermost vein however has a layer of capital Iron Ore lying 

 on it. Taking it to be, as I suppose, this bed of coal with its different strata of 

 sandstone, clay slate, clunch clay, shell, &c. is about 200 yards in breadth, and 

 there is at least 14 feet of coal intermixed with clunch and soft partings in the 

 present vein, but from being overtopped by a good high knoll there is much trou- 

 ble in working it." 



23d — " I am happy to be able to give you very favorable accounts of the 

 coal mine, and I expect now, under proper management in working it out during 

 this cold season, Government will be supplied with as much as they require of 

 the finest article of the kind in India, but boats are the drawback ; let any number 

 be ready and coal is forthcoming for them. The plan is, in my opinion, for Govern- 

 ment to work the coal for some time to come, as it is of too valuable a kind to 

 waste in the way the natives do, and care shonld be taken that the mine does not 

 fill up again during the rains. The steamers should be supplied from the in- 

 land mines, where a great portion of the coal is equally fit for their purposes, but 

 the Dehing vein should be reserved for mint purposes, it is so valuable and 

 should be taken care of; fancy 16 feet of coal, 10 of which is solid pure coal. 



