UMAE.IA COAL-FIELD. 



27 



I had a strong- wish to go further to the deep towards No. 9 bore-hole, 

 but I was at first deterred by the dread of water, and the possibly heavy 

 outlay that would have to be incurred for pumping machinery. In 

 an untried field, it is impossible to gauge the water difficulty, and 

 T selected the spot for the trial shaft, where I anticipated the least 

 amount of inconvenience on this score. While it was being* proceeded 

 Second sbaft. Com- with > m Y original desire to open out the site of 

 menced December 1883. jj 0> g bore- hole was carried into effect; but, 

 without any extra machinery to combat the anticipated influx of 

 water, it was looked upon as rather a hopeless undertaking. Strange 

 to say, however, the measures in this part of the field were unusually 

 dry, and the coal was reached just before the close of the past season 

 without any other difficulty to overcome than occasional scarcity of 

 labour. 



There was not time enough to drive into the seam, so that the only 



objects achieved by the completion of either shaft were the procurement 



of more perfect samples of coal and the more exact determination of the 



thickness and constitution of the main seam than that afforded by the 



simpler method of a small boring. Seven feet of clear good coal, free 



from the stone bands that are visible at the outcrop, were passed through 



in the second pit, and the analysis of a fair average dried piece gave the 



following result : — 



Water 546 



Volatile matter 25-17 



Fixed carbon ........ 6671 



Asb 812 



10000 



Such a certificate as this speaks for itself, and from the first analysis 

 in 1880 to this one in 1884 there has been a conspicuous improvement; 

 the only coals of Bengal that can surpass it are some from the Kar- 

 harbari field. 



In order to supply our own local wants and enough for a few trial 

 runs on the East Indian and Great Indian Peninsula 



Quarry and inclines. 



Railways, a quarry was sunk on the outcrop; and 



( 103 ) 



