MEMOIRS 



OF 



THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. 



The oeeurrenee of Petroleum in Burma, and its technical exploita- 

 tion, by Dr. Fritz Noetling, F. G. S., Paleontologist, Geologi- 

 cal Survey of India. 



Part I.-HISTORICAL AND GEOLOGICAL- 

 Chapter I.— HISTORICAL SUMMARY up to 1886. 



A. — Legendary Times. 



If we are to believe the native tradition, the origin of the Yen- 

 angyaung oil-fields dates back to those far remote times when won- 

 ders happened in which our sceptical age refuses to believe. The 

 following is a legend about the origin of the Yenangyoung oil-fields 

 told me by the Berne Ywaok : — 



" When King Alaungsitha was 10 years old, he contemplated a visit to Mount 

 Meru, the centre of the Universe, and ordered the building of a magnificent raft, 

 which took five years to be finished. In due course the king started on his 

 journey. On arriving near a hill called Minlin (Minlindaungis about a mile south 

 of the Bema oil-fields) the ship was halted and seven of the Queens asked to be 

 permitted to amuse themselves on the shore. Permission was granted on condition 

 that they should not be away for a long time. When they got ashore, they found 

 a quantity of fragrant liquid oozing out from the rock, with which they besmeared 

 themselves, and the enjoyment they indulged in was of such an engrossing nature 

 that they became oblivious of the injunction not to tarry. For this disobedience 

 the Queens were punished with death. Before they died, they implored that the 

 liquid which was the indirect cause of their death might be made to change its 

 nature. The fragrant liquid was consequently turned into earth-oil." 



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