502 



Rajmehal Coal, 



working, and expense of conveying this coal to the river, yet 

 our knowledge regarding the natural circumstances under 

 which it occurs is altogether defective. This coal is inferior, 

 and without a more exact knowledge of the district than 

 we are possessed of at present, it is impossible to come to any 

 conclusion as to whether or not better beds of coal might 

 be expected^ and what measures would be most likely to be 

 adopted with success in regard to them.'* Major Forbes 

 found by various experiments conducted at the Calcutta Mint, 

 on five hundred maunds of the best Hurrah coal, that nearly 

 double the quantity compared with the Burdwan coal, was 

 required to produce the same quantity of steam, and that it 

 is generally unfit for smithery purposes, affording an inade- 

 ' quate heat for melting, or even for hammering with facility, 

 and on analysis, Mr. Prinsep found it yield upwards of a 

 fourth part in ashes. 



3. In a report on the Rajmehal canal, submitted to the 

 Government in 1832, by Colonel McLeod and Major Forbes, 

 it is stated, that Mr. Ward, the Commissioner of Bhau- 

 gulpore, was aware of the existence of coal in a bed of 

 sandstone near the pass of Patchwary. This situation ap- 

 pears to be ten or fifteen miles to the north of Doobradge- 

 pore, and together with the Hurrah and Sicrigully indica- 

 tions, proves the extension of coal formations along the 

 entire base of the Rajmehal hills. 



4. In addition to the above-mentioned indications of coal, 

 extensive beds have been found in a fourth locality, a few 

 miles south of Patchwary. In April 1838, Mr. James Pontet 

 found a bed of coal in the Rajmehal hills, on the banks of a 

 nullah called the .Burmany, sixteen miles distant from water- 

 carriage during the rains, and about thirty miles west of 



* Mr. Glass states, that coal is found throughout a large tract of 

 country, Barcoup. It is probably the same as that discovered by 

 Captain Tanner ; a portion of this coal is said by Mr. Glass to have 

 been recently on fire. — Proceedings of the Coal Committee, 



