366 



Report of the Coal Committee. 



[April 



tion. The pits are here four or five miles from Seedporeghat. The 

 mineral is better to the westward at Parihorpore, about ten or twelve 

 miles above Seedpore. Seedpore is eighteen miles from CutwaorCalna 

 on the Hooghly, and the river is pretty open during the rains for boats 

 of 400 maunds burden from Maulyghat to Cutwa, a distance of forty 

 miles. The upper portion of the river rises and falls suddenly, so as 

 to render it difficult to manage a larger boat than 200 maunds. Mr. 

 Eiskine observes, that considering the difficulty of the Adji naviga- 

 tion, and the scarcity of boats at present, and also the high price that it 

 would be necessary to offer to boatmen to induce them at first to un- 

 dertake the carriage of coals ; he does not think the coal could be deli- 

 vered at Cutwa under four annas per maund. Should the regularity of 

 the employment induce people to build more boats (as has been the 

 case on the Damooda,) prices might fall to about 3 annas per maund. 

 Adji coals are now used for the Dhoba Sugar Works to the extent of 

 10 or 15,000 maunds per annum. 



Rajmahal. 



When our last report was written, coal was known to exist in two 

 situations only in the Rajmahal hills ; namely, SicriguUy and Hurrah. 

 In April 1838, Major Forbes was informed by Mr. James Pontet that he 

 had found a bed of coal in the Rajmahal hills, on the banks of a nulla 

 called the Bramenee, sixteen miles distant from the water carriage 

 during the rains, about thirty miles w-est of Moorshedabad, and nearly 

 in the line of the canal proposed by Major Forbes. A specimen of this 

 ooal afforded the following on analysis: — 



Specific gravity, 1,370 



Volatile matter, 42 0 



Carbon, 44 8 



Earthy matter, 13 2 



100 



A sample consisting of a few maunds furnished by Mr. Pontet some- 

 time before to Mr. Scott, the commander of the Jumna steam vessel, 

 also proved of favourable quality. Mr. Pontet having been desirous of 

 procuring the means of extending his observation, these were provided, 

 and on the 20th June he dispatched ten bags of coal to Calcutta, this 

 also proved favourable ; but a subsequent dispatch of 400 maunds con- 

 sisted of shale and inferior coal. In explanation of this last unfortu- 

 nate circumstance, Mr. Pontet stated that the necessary aid did not 

 reach him till the rains had set in, when the place being unhealthy, 



