HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 23 



probability, nay, I would say, the certainty is, that the supply must be gradually 



diminishing. I couid not learn that the number of the wells has been increased lately, 



while the demand for the product has increased more than fourfold, and is daily 



increasing. These facts are sufficient to account fully for the greatly enhanced 



price of the oil. The ordinary price of the petroleum, previously to the British 



annexation of Pegu, was at the village of Yenangyoung, from 10 annas to 14 annas 



per 100 viss. It has since increased from 1 rupee to 1-8 ; and an agent for a 



mercantile house at Rangoon, who was there at the time of our visit, stated 



that he had to pay even so much as 2 rupees 4 annas for loo viss. At Rangoon, 



the price used to be from 2 rupees to 2-8 ; it is now never less than 5 rupees, and 



has been so high as 25 rupees per 100 viss. An export duty of 10 per cent is now 



charged on this oil. The Burmese Government also charge 3 per cent. Under 



the former system, it is stated that the charges, including the established douceurs 



to brokers, etc., were not less. In number, the wells were stated by the head-man 



of the village to be about 200 ; others said 1 00. They certainly do not exceed 



in number 200. The well which yielded 400 viss per diem was shown to us as a 



remarkable one ; others were acknowledged to yield only 60 viss; and 1 think 



there was a general tendency in our informants to swell the amount rather than 



diminish it. The average yield of the whole, therefore, must be much less than 



it was estimated to be by Mr. Crawfurd. Very careful inquiries convinced 



me that the average could not be more than 180 viss from each well per diem. 



This would give (allowing that there may be 200 wells at work, which I consider 



beyond the truth) a total of 36,000 viss per day. If we take the working days at 



300 in the year (which again is, I think, above the truth, considering the number 



of holy days, etc., in which a Burman revels), this would give a total produce 



annually of 10,800,000 viss. Deducting from this i-20th as an allowance for waste, 



breakage of gurrahs, loss of boats, etc., we should have 10,800,000 — 540,000 = 



10,260,000, i.e., ten millions and one-quarter viss as the net available. produce 



per annum. 



" Another mode of arriving at the annual produce is to take the number of carts 

 employed daily in the conveying of the oil to the point of shipment, and multiply 

 this by the average load of each. Now we could not ascertain that there were 

 more than 150 carts so engaged, if so many. The average load of each of these 

 is 100 viss, and taking, as before, 300 days' work, we should have 100X150X300 

 only 4,500,000 viss annually, not one-half of what was stated to us. 



" We have above calculated from the number of wells, as given by the Burmese 

 themselves ; I am convinced, however, that the number given is above the fact. I 

 could not see any reason to believe that in the larger group there were more than 

 80 and in the smaller or southern group more than 50 wells actually yielding 

 petroleum ; the amount obtained from the wells of the southern group is also much 

 less than that from the northern wells. It is also inferior in quality. In my view, 

 either the produce has diminished most materially since Mr. Crawfurd's visit, or he 

 very much over-estimated it from erroneous data. I fancy that both these causes 

 have combined to render his estimate too high at present. 



* These wells are, each singly, or a group of a few wells close together, the 

 property of different individuals. In some cases they are a source of large and 



( <* ) 



