74 
BALL \ND SIMPSON : COALFIELDS OF INDIA. 
deposits. Although their proximity to the Chindwin river affords 
a possible line of comiiiunication, yet they will probably remain 
undeveloped until such time as the westward extension of the 
Burma Railway system brings them into touch with down-country 
markets. 
Pinlehu. — Coal of miocene age is known to occur on the Mu 
river near Pinlebu, a village in the Katha district situated 25 miles 
north-west of Wuntho. The deposits were examined by F. Noet- 
ling ^ in 1893. Coal outcrops were discovered in several locali- 
ties, the most promising being on the Moungaw stream, near 
Yuyinbyet, south of Pinlebu, where a seam from 4 to 5 feet thick 
dips at an angle of 10°. The following is the analysis of a sample 
of this coal : — 
Moisture 6-6 
Volatile matter ...... 34-2 
Fixed carbon 52-2 
Ash ........ 7-0 
Most of the other outcrops are either too thin or of too poor 
quality to be workable. The nearest outcrop is 32 miles over rough 
broken country, from the railway at Wuntho. The building, how- 
ever, of the proposed connecting link between the Burma Railways 
at Wuntho and the Indian Railway system at Lumding, on the 
Assam Bengal Railway, might possibly lead to the development of 
these coal deposits. 
Bhamo District. — That coal occurred in this district was known 
to Captain Strover ^ in 1873. The locality was Shwegu. a town 
on the Irrawadi below Bhamo. What is probably a continuation of 
the same deposits was visited by H. H. Hayden ^ in 1896. The 
place is Mithwe, a village about 5 miles south-east of Lagat. The 
coal occurs in thin seams, the best of which is 2 feet 8 inches 
thick, but only extends for 112 feet along the outcrop ; it is 
shaly and poor, and the beds are highly disturbed, and penetrated 
by igneous intrusions. 
On the authority of F. Noetling * and C. L. Griesbach we have 
it that coal exists near Mogaung. Neither of these observers 
appears, however, to have visited the deposits. The former states that 
» i?c(,-., a S. i., XXVll, 120 (1894). 
« Indian Ecorumist, V, 14 (1873). 
' Bee, 0. 8. 1., XXX, 6 (1897). 
« Jlec., G. 3. 1., XXV, 133 (1892). 
