HISTORICAL SUMMARY. I 7 



of the state, or five thousand, was assigned during our visit as a pension of one 

 of the Queens " (page 427). 



" From the more accurate information which I obtained at Ava, it appears 

 that the produce of these may be estimated at the highest, in round numbers, at 

 about twenty-two millions of viss, each of 3 T 6 o 5 o pounds, avoirdupois. This esti- 

 mate is formed from the report of the Myo-Thuggi, who rents the tax on the wells, 

 which is five in hundred. His annual collection is 25,000 tecals, and he estimated 

 or conjectured that he lost by smuggling about 8,000, making the total 33,000. 

 The value of the whole produce, therefore, is 660,000 tecals. The value of the oil 

 on the spot is reckoned at three tecals per hundred viss, and consequently its 

 amount will be as above stated/' 



The statement in this account that the wells extend over an 

 area of 16 square miles is curious, seeing that, allowing a very liberal 

 margin, the oil-fields cover an area of only 343 acres, or a little 

 over half a square mile. The estimate of the outturn can hardly be 

 considered of much value, having been arrived at in rather a sum- 

 mary way, particularly as regards the export of oil from Yenang- 

 young. In fact, Crawfurd's reports contain less information about 

 the condition of the Burmese oil-fields, than Captain Cox's der 

 scription, although the latter had been made 30 years previously. 



In 1835 Captain Hannay visited the oil-fields. Unfortunately I 



have no access to his manuscript, but his state- 

 183S, Captain Hannay. . 



ment of an annual production of 93,000 tons 



seems exaggerated. 



It is a pity that Captain McLeod's manuscript on the oil-fields, 



which he visited in 1838, formerly kept in the 

 Captain McLeod, 1838. . . 



Foreign Omce, and quoted by Captain H. Yule, 



has never been published, as it appears to have contained some valu- 

 able information. Captain McLeod states the number of wells as 

 not higher than 160, which for various reasons I believe to be nearly 

 correct ; but he certainly underestimates the average yield per 

 well, namely, 36 viss per day. Even now, although the fields are 

 not so productive, the average is higher, and we may conclude 

 that it was still higher 52 years ago. 



The next description added much to a knowledge of the oil-fields. 



c ( 63 ) 



