1840.] 



Report of the Coal Committee. 



359 



Cherra coal at Goalparah, in Assam, at the rate of eight annas per 

 maund,* after the attempt to supply that station during the rainy season 

 with coal at any price from Burdwan had failed. 



Three beds of coal, situated near the foot of the hills, have been 

 brought to notice, but we have no information on the subject to enable 

 us to decide whether these are new discoveries, or merely the bed 

 alluded to in our last reports, as having been brought to notice some 

 twenty-five years ago by Messrs. Jones and Stark. Without going into 

 that question, we shall merely state all we know of the three beds now 

 alluded to. 



The first and most promising, is that of Byrung Poonjie,f situated 

 near a village of that name, within about two miles of water carriage, 

 and the ground such as to allow of the construction of a hackery road. 



We know nothing of the circumstances of the bed, further than is stated 

 by Mr. Landers, a practical gentleman, who has been appointed for the 

 superintendence of coal mines in Sylhet and Assam, and who observes — 

 Byrung coal is of a soft quality, intermixed with stones three feet 

 and a half high and varying in its thickness. The vein runs from east 

 to west, and descends with the hill towards the south : to what extent 

 this field may exist, it is impossible at present to say, the want of pro- 

 per implements" (these have been since provided) " prevented me from 

 ascertaining; atrial ought to be made by running galleries into the 

 strata six or eight fathoms, at once to determine both height and qua- 

 lity, and also if it would admit of any outlay.'' This coal has been tried, 

 and appears to be likely to answer very well for steam, while it has the 

 additional advantage of yielding excellent coke. 



Not far distant from the Byrung bed, there is another at a place 

 called Chiela, or Chaila, which varies from one to three feet in thick- 

 ness. This however is said to be an inferior coal. 



Major Lister, to whom we are indebted for the first and almost 

 the only information we have had regarding the two foregoing coals 

 states, that Mr. Inglis, of Cuttack, has found a coal bed above Chaila, 

 at a village called Mustuk, above 1,500 or 2,000 feet above the plains, 

 and within such distance of water carriage as to enable a porter to deli- 

 ver five burdens daily from the pit into boats. Mr. Inglis is of opinion 



• This having been done under the direction of the Marine Board, the Committee 

 have documents on the subject 



t Communication has been received from Major Lister since the annexed remarks 

 were written, stating that Mr. Landers has traced the Byrung Poonjie bed for two miles 

 to the westward without finding more on an average than a foot of good coal ; hence 

 Major Lister and Mr. Landers conclude the Byrung bed is not workable. 



