HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 5 



was bound to pass the famous place. It would be quite useless to 



quote all the books in which the Yenangyoung oil-field has been 



mentioned : it is sufficient to refer to the most important works only. 



The earliest account of the Yenangyoung oil-fields which I have 



been able to trace will be found in Captain 



,7SS * C B P ak1r Ge ° rSe George Baker's Journal of an Embassy to the 



King of Burma in 1755 ;* he says : " Raynan* 



Gome I take to lye 25' South of Sallee-mue ( = Sale Myo) At this 



Place there are about 200 Families, who are chiefly employed in get- 

 ting Earth-Oil out of Pitts, some five Miles in the Country. " 



In 1782 W. Hunter, A. M. Surgeon, in the employ of the Honour- 

 able East India Company, who visited Burma, 



1782. W. Hunter. f J* 



wrote as follows : " There is found here, swim- 

 ming on the surface of the water in certain wells, a kind of petro- 

 leum or naphta which is used like oil for burning and also for mak- 

 ing unctuous compositions for painting the sides of the vessels." 

 The most reliable of the early accounts on the Burmese oil-fields 



will be found in Symes' Embassy to Ava, of 

 1 795- M. Symes.* J . 



which I give here an extract, omitting the less 



important parts :— 



" The hills, or rather hillocks, were covered with gravel, and yielded no other 

 vegetation than a few stunted bushes. The wheels (of the bullock carts) had worn 

 ruts deep into the rock, which seem to be rather a mass of concreted gravel, than 

 hard stone, and many pieces of petrified wood lay strewed about. It is remark- 

 able, that wherever these petrifications were found, the soil was unproductive, and 

 the ground destitute of verdure. The evening being far advanced, we met but 

 few carts ; those we did observe were drawn each by a pair of oxen, and of a length 

 disproportionate to the breadth to allow space for the earthen pots that contained 

 the oil. It was a matter of surprise to us, how they could convey such brittle 

 ware, with any degree of safety, over so rugged a road : each pot was packed in a 

 separate basket, and laid on straw, notwithstanding which precaution, the ground 

 all the way was strewn with the fragments of the vessels, and wet with oil ; for no 



1 Oriental Repertory, published at the charge of the East India Company, by 

 Dalrymple, London, 1791, page 172. 



2 Michael Symes. An account of an Embassy to the kingdom of Ava, sent by the 

 Governor-General of India in the year 1795. London, 1800, volume III, pages 232 

 to 238. 



( 5' ) 



