364 



Report of the Coal Committee. 



[April 



by Mr. G. Eecher, had a few years before extracted some specimens of 

 coal). Mr. Kittoe formed an excavation to the deptli of 15 feet, in 

 which he found at a depth of 13 feet a bed of " good glistening coal,'' 

 1 foot to 1| foot thick, reposing beneath ten feet of " shingle^ and two 

 beds of shale and blue clay, each U foot thick. The latter, as well as 

 a grey rock beneath the coal, both containing fossil plants. 



Mr. Kittoe states, that a native contractor offered, in the event of 

 coal being raised at Tal cheer, to convey it down the Bramenee river to 

 Himsuagolay on the coast, where large sloops may anchor, at four annas 

 per maund; but Mr. Beetson, the contractor for the transport of salt 

 from thence to Calcutta, was of opinion, that two annas per maund at 

 the utmost would be suiBcient. From the coast to Calcutta the trans- 

 port of coal would be the same as that of salt.* 



The next coal to which Mr. Kit toe by his guide was conducted, is a 

 few miles higher up the Bramenee, and at a distance of sixteen or 

 eighteen miles from that stream, so that its conveyance would be consi- 

 derably more expensive. The coal is here exposed for a mile on either 

 side of a nulla called Su7igurra, a tributary of the Bramenee, averaging 

 in height from five to fifteen feet above the sand. The country is said 

 to be level fiom the coal to the bank of the Bramenee, so as to afford 

 every focility for the construction of either a road or a canal. Iron ore 

 is found in great abundance throughout both these coal districts, and 

 the ore is smelted to some extent, and by the same process as that 

 which prevails in other parts of India. 



Such is the substance of Mr. Kittoe's Report. f The specimens of 

 coal furnished were not of good quality. Three specimens of Talcheer 

 coal examined at the Mint, afforded the following average results : — 



Specific gravity, 1.3610 



Volatile matter, 39 0 



Carbon, 44 I 



Earthy matter, 15 10 



100 0 



Talcheer and Hingolar maybe regarded, we think, without much 

 doubt, as an extensive and valuable coal field. The workable beds will 



* At present there are three contracts for tlie conveyance of salt from Hunscw to 

 Calcutta ; the rates are 18 Ks., 17 Rs, 8 annas, and 17 Rs. per 100 maunds. 

 + yide Asiatic Journal of 1839, pp. 137—144. 



