3G0 



Repoi't of the Coal Committee. 



[April 



that this coal is quite as good as that of Cherra,* and Major Lister ob- 

 serves that it looks so, though the quality is diifereiif, being blacker, 

 with an exceedingly high polish; it burns considerably longer than 

 Cherra coal, and cakes less, but is heavier, and yields more ashes. 



The value of these, as well as similar indications alluded to in our 

 last report, is still doubtful, and must remain so until the whole tract 

 along the base of the Kasyah hills be submitted to a geological survey. 

 For the present season, if the Government require coal from this quar- 

 ter, we agree with Major Lister in thinking it \^\\\ be necessary to con- 

 fine our exertions exclusively to the Cherra bed. This, as is well 

 knovrn, is situated on the summit of a mountain, nearly 5,000 feet above 

 the sea, and at such a distance from navigable rivers as to render it a 

 day's viork for each cooly to deliver a maund, or about 80 pounds, of 

 coal from the pit into a boat. 



The only way of lessening this inconvenience would be by improving 

 the conveyance, by an improvement of the road. Above and below the 

 steepest portion of the descent would admit of bullocks being used. 

 Instead of porters for the steeper or middle portion of the journey, 

 it has been proposed to construct a slide, as suggested by the late 

 Colonel Watson. The improvement of the road between Cherra and 

 the plains would be a work of some public utility, as it would be the 

 means of facilitating ingress and egress to and from the mountain 

 plateau, it would therefore be a very desirable object, independent of 

 the coal. The value of a slide however, would depend entirely on our 

 success in finding as good a coal below, as that which is above — an 

 uncertainty which ought to be at once removed by a perfect geological 

 survey, as already suggested. 



Some difference of opinion prevails as to the best way of transmit- 

 ting Sylhet coal to the great lines of inland navigation on the Ganges ; 

 some contending that it would be necessary in the first instance to send 

 them a distance of 300 miles to Calcutta, and from thence back to 

 Surda, and other depots on the Ganges ; — experience is the only way of 

 settling questions of this nature, and measures are now in progress for 

 the delivery of the largest possible quantity — 10 or 15,000 maunds of 

 Cberra Poonjie coal — in Calcutta, with the least possible delay, compa- 

 tible with the fair trial of the experiment. The Kasyahs, on whom the 

 burden of the experiment will literally fall, though a fine athletic race, 

 are little accustomed to labour ; Major Lister may therefore have some 

 difficulty at first in reconciling a sufficient number of them to a conti- 



• A cargo of it haying recently arrived in Calcutta, it is now (4th May, 1840) under 

 trial on a large scale, and promises to turn out very favourably. 



