20 NOETLING: PETROLEUM IN BURMA. 



"The oil is described by the people as gushing like a fountain from openings 

 in the earth. It accumulates in the well during the afternoon and night, and is 

 drawn off in the morning. The proprietors have the oil conveyed to the river side 

 in carts loaded with earthen pots containing ten viss each. 



" The ordinary price of the article used to be one tecal the hundred viss, or 

 about sixteen shillings a ton. Lately, in consequence of the demand from Rangoon, 

 it has risen to about thirty-five shillings a ton. 



" As to the amount of revenue derived by the King from the petroleum we 

 found it difficult to get definite information. One intelligent proprietor, who was 

 a Myo-oh of the town, stated that out of the 27,000 viss, which formed the whole 

 monthly yield of his wells, 9,000 went in payment to the work-people, 1,000 to the 

 King, and 1,000 to the lord of the district. 



" It is an object- of some interest to endeavour to ascertain the approximate 

 amount of petroleum yield by these wells. There was not time to make very 

 minute enquiries on this head, not to mention that questioning closely every pro- 

 prietor might have given umbrage to the Burmese officers, and excited their jea- 

 lousy. From the information derived, however, from the proprietors who came to 

 the Envoy, and from general enquiries by other members of the Mission, it appears 

 that there are in the northern group of wells about 80 yielding oil. This would 

 give, at the daily average of 220 viss from each well, an annual amount of 6,4.24,000 

 viss drawn from the northern group. 



" The 50 wells of the southern group are assumed to yield on the average 

 40 viss each daily. Their yield, therefore, annually, would be 730,000 viss, mak- 

 ing a total quantity of 7,154,000 viss annually, equal to about 11,690 tons. This 

 is very nearly what the Myo-ok stated the produce to be, and it was, in all pro- 

 bability, about the truth." 



Excepting some small inaccuracies this account is undoubtedly 

 very correct, and it is the more important, as it gives for the first 

 time definite information about the rights and customs of the 23 

 twinzayo families. In fact, Captain Yule has given in this short 

 description all that has come out [during the long enquiries held 

 lately about the customs and rights of the twinzayos. His 

 evidence is the more important, because it is not influenced by 

 the various interests of the present times, which lead the Burman 

 to make only such statements as seem to be most profitable to him- 

 self. In Captain Yule's description we find the same difficulty 

 which we encountered in previous accounts. It is difficult to say 

 which of the two oil-fields he visited. The illustrative view of the 

 oil-field at Yenangyoung accompanying the description is difficult to 

 recognize. It was only quite accidentally that I hit on the very spot 



,( 66 ) 



