388 Proceedings of Societies ; [AfRiL 



Read a letter from the Secretary to the British Museum, dated 13(.h 

 January 1 840--acki)o\vledging tbe receipt of ilie Society 's Journal, Nos. 

 22 and 23, and returning thanks for the same. 



The following communications to the Society were presented; — 

 A note by Colokel Cullen on the carboniferous deposits on the 

 MaLibar Coast. 

 (Published w ith Mr. Newbold's Paper in the present No.) 



A specimen of Coal from Mergui on the Tenasserim Coast was pre- 

 sented from the same gentleman, with the following account of the 

 locality whence it was derived. 



Exi7'aci from a leiter addressed to Government^ on OfJi December 1839. 



I have the honour to state, for the information of His Honour in Coun« 

 cil, that during the past month, I personally visited the site of the last 

 discovered coal-field, on the banks of the Tenasserim riverj and the re= 

 suits of my observations on the spot, are, that there can be no doubt we 

 shall eventually succeed in procuring Ihe present limited quantity of 

 50,000 maunds of coal, at an expense not exceeding five annas per 

 maund — that a portion only (say 10,000 maunds) of this quantity can 

 be brought down during the present fine season^ and that the larger the 

 quantity required to be supplied, the less will be its prime cost in depot. 

 The coal is found at the distance of about half a mile from the bank of 

 the river. The intermediate space is a level, and as excellent timber 

 abounds in the npighboarhood, there will be no difficulty in construct- 

 ing a tram-road for the conveyance of the coal to the river. It is a 

 curious circumstance that the spot where the coal was discovered, and 

 has been dug out in small quantities by the natives, appears to.be the 

 summit of an upheaving. The spot in question is the bed of a small 

 winding nullah, not exceeding thirty feet in width, and in the winding 

 ©r small reach where the coal was first discovered, it is found by digging 

 to the depth of a few feet only, across half the width of the nullah, 

 while the other half has none. About the centre of the nullah it com- 

 mences and appears to dip towards the S. W. (the right side of the 

 nullah at this spot) at an angle of about thirty or thirty-five degrees, 

 while the line of the bed itself, which I may call the line of greatest 

 height, appears to run about N. E. but to what extent is as yet wholly 

 unknovN-n. A section of the right bank of the nullah discovers: 



