164 NOETLING: PETROLEUM IN BURMA, 



inquiry, and the well sites therein contained could be disposed of 

 only by permission of a twinzayo. The wells, however, could be sold 

 to any outsider, as well as the oil ; not only have the rights of the 

 Burmese diggers thus been protected, but a magnificent present has 

 been made to them considering the limited extension of the Yenan* 

 gyoung oilfield. 



Section II.— The construction of the pit well. 



Construction of the piUwells.— There can hardly be anything 

 more striking, than to read the accounts written about a hundred 

 years ago, describing the operation of digging a pit well, while 

 watching the native miner of the present day digging a well. There 

 is not the slightest difference in the method of a hundred years ago 

 and the present one, and Captain Cox's description could as well have 

 been written in our days. 



Having selected a place, a square hole, the sides of which are 

 about 6 J to 5^ feet, is dug; the walls are lined with a wooden casing, 

 which consists of rough split wooden staves, notched at either end 

 to secure a safe jointing. Four of these staves, which answer in 

 length to the length of the sides of the wells, form a square frame. 

 These frames begin at the mouth of the well, and their number gra- 

 dually increases as the well advances in depth by new ones being 

 added at the lower end of the casing. It is estimated that for every 

 80 cubits (about 148 feet, the cubit being 22 inches) 1,200 staves 

 are required, that is to say, 300 to each side ; the average 

 height of each frame therefore being about 5 to 6 inches ; the 

 thickness is hardly more than 2 inches, but being well jointed the 

 frame has sufficient rigidity to withstand the pressure of the sides, 

 although it is common enough that, when the wood is allowed to get 

 old and rotten without being renewed, the casing gives way and the 

 well caves in. At present the price is Rio for 100 pieces. It is 

 hardly intelligible how an observer, otherwise so correct as Captain 

 ( 210 ) 



