HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 13 



each well per diem, 300 viss or 109,500 viss per annum, equal to 399,675 lbs. avoirdu- 

 pois or tons 178,955 lbs. 1 or in liquid measure 793 hogsheads of sixty three gallons 

 each, and as there are 520 wells registered by Government, the gross amount 

 produce of the whole per annum will be 56,940,000 viss or 92,781 tons, 1,560 lbs. or 

 412,360 hogsheads, worth at the wells, at one and a quarter tecals per hundred viss, 

 7 1 1 J5o tecals, or 889,737 sicca rupees. 



M From the wells, the oil is carried, in small jars, by coolies, or on carts, to the 

 river ; where it is delivered to the merchant exporter at two tecals per hundred viss, 

 the value being enhanced three-eighths by the expense and risk of portage, therefore 

 the gross value or profit to the country of the whole, deducting five per cent, for 

 wastage, may be stated at 1,081,860 tecals or 1,362,325 sicca rupees per annum, 

 yielding a direct revenue to the king of 136,232 sicca rupees per annum, and per- 

 haps thrice as much more before it reaches the consumer ; besides the benefit the 

 whole country must derive from the productive industry called into action by the 

 constant employment of so large a capital on so gruff an article. There were between 

 seventy and eighty boats, average burthen sixty tons each, loading oil at several 

 wharves, and others constantly coming and going while I was there. A number of 

 boats and men also find constant employment in providing the pots, etc., for the 

 oil, and the extent of this single branch of internal commerce (for almost the whole 

 is consumed in the country) will serve to give some insight into the internal 

 commerce and resources of the country. 



" At the wells the price of the oil is seven annas six pies per 112 lbs. avoirdupois; 

 at the port of Ranghong it is sold at the average rate of three sicca rupees three 

 annas six pies per cwt., or per hogshead of sixty three gallons weighing- 504 lbs. 

 fourteen rupees five annas eight pies, exclusive of the cask, or per Bengal buzar 

 maund two rupees five annas eight pies, whereas the mustard seed, and other 

 vegetable oils, sell at Ranghong at eleven rupees per buzar maund. 



"To conclude, this oil is a genuine petroleum, possessing all the properties of 

 coal tar, being, in fact, the self same thing, the only difference is, that nature ela- 

 borates in the bowels of the earth that for the Burmhas, for which European 

 nations are obliged to the ingenuity of Lord Dundonald." 



This report is a source of the most useful information about the 

 oil-fields in those days. Most of the observations are correct, and 

 have been confirmed by later observers. He went nearly into every 

 detail; in fact, he deals so exhaustively with the subject that hardly 

 anything remains to be added. There are of course some mistakes 

 such as, when describing the timbering of the shafts, he says that 

 the wooden square frames forming the casing of the pit are added 

 at the top of the well, the whole gradually sinking as the well is 

 deepened. A little reflection would have shown that this was im- 

 possible, the friction between the timber casing and the rocks being 



1 Sic. in orig. 



( 59 ) 



