211 
PART 2.] Mallet: On the mineral resources of lldmri, Chediiba, ^c. 
fotincl on trial to die out rapidlyd On the other hand, the seams of nummu- 
litic coal in Upper Assam have been traced in several cases for long distances. 
As for the nirmher of the Ramri seams, there is of course a possibility of other 
beds being discovered, better perhaps than any at present known, hut the natives 
of the locality, intimately acquainted with their jungles, say they possess no know¬ 
ledge of any others than those described above. To search for outcrops at ran¬ 
dom in a country whore the rocks are so obscurely seen, and without a map,®“ would 
he mere waste of time. But I think it may he predicted with some confidence that 
coal will not he found in anything like abundance. Where rocks are tilted up on 
edge, like those in question, any seams included in them must necessarily he cut 
through hy streams ranning across the strike, and, in such cases, if the coal exists 
in any quantity, ample indications of its presence are generally afforded by the 
fragments, and often large lumps, washed down. But nothing of the kind is to 
he found amongst the shingle of the main streams near Tsetama, which drain 
many square miles of country. 
With reference to the extraction of the coal, the high inclinations of the seams 
would preclude quan’ying on any hut the most insignificant scale. The coal 
could only he raised in any quantity by mining, and mining in seams with such 
high and irregular dips would not he of the simplest kind. 
Altogether, then, the prospect of successfully working the coal is not promising. 
Assuming, even, that the quantity is sufificient, the diflBculty of mining it would 
necessitate a skilled European manager on a good salarjq and to cover that 
expense a considerable quantity of coal must he raised. But the local demand is 
trifling, and beyond the sea, the mediocre quality of the coal and the expense 
of mining it, would, I am of opinion, prohibit its competing on even terms wuth 
the easily-mined and superior coal from Raniganj. Sea-going steamers, with 
Bengal and English coal at command, would certainly not take such coal as that 
which has hitherto been found in Ramri, and I do not think it could be raised 
at such a price as to find a market even for local purposes at Akyab. 
In the preceding paper I have alluded to the connection between the mud 
volcanoes and petroleum, and to the difference be- 
Petroleum. tween the oils of Ramri and those of the Irrawadi 
valley. In as far as one can form any definite idea from mere description, the 
oil-bearing rocks in both regions would appear to bear considerable resemblance 
to each other,'* and it has been stated by Mr. W. Theobald that they are cer¬ 
tainly of the same geological age.^ I think it can scarcely be doubted that the 
lignitiferous beds of Ramri and Cheduba are the true oil-producing as well as 
oil-bearing rocks. 
In the Bardnga Islands, however, although the oil is of the same character as 
that from Ramri, a marked difference is apparent in the rocks from which it 
issues. These are shales and sandstones of very constant character, without 
1 Selections from the Kecords of the Government of India (Home Department), No. X, p. 99. 
^ The revenue map does not even profess to mark the hills or strCiUns. 
^ Mission to the CJourt of Ava, p. 312. 
< Mem. G. 8, I„ X, 1G3. 
