214 
Jiecords of ihc Geological Survey of India. 
[voL. XI. 
carried to a depth of 36 feet only, when the workmen were surprised and terri¬ 
fied by a sudden oiithurst of gas and oil, accompanied by loud subterraneous 
sounds, as of distant thunder. They had only time to make their escape up the 
ladders of the well befoi-e the oil and gas poured in in quantities that would other¬ 
wise have made their position a very perilous one.” “ Pour days after Mr. Savage 
struck oil in the second well at a depth of 68 feet under similar circumstances, 
but the gas appeared stronger, making a great noise. About 150 gallons a 
day can be dipped out of this well- The oil is clear and liquid; large quan¬ 
tities of gas continually escape not only in these wells, but in all other wells of 
small depth which are in the locality.” 
Of the second class of wells those near Minbain are amongst the most im¬ 
portant. There are several scores of them, about a mile and a half north of the 
village, in an alluvial plain which is cut up by numerous nallas, which join and 
eventually drain into the Phultanu naddi. The wells are all sunk either in or 
close to the beds of the nallas, such being of course the lowest ground in the 
locality. They occur in groups of a dozen or twenty, the groups not being very 
far from each other (say one or two hundred yards), and the wells within a few 
feet or yards of each other. They are about 4 feet diameter, and vary in depth 
from 6 or 6 to 10 or 12 feet, and are all sunk in a rather tough grey chinch, 
which is generally covered by a foot or two of surface soil. In some wells the 
chinch towards the lower part is entirely soaked with petroleum, but more 
frequently the oil soaks the rock in patches, which have a darker color than the 
rock which is free from it. Although none of the wells are in communication 
with anything approaching the dignity of a fissure, there are evidently divisional 
planes and minute cracks which allow the oil to rise more freely in some spots 
than in others. At the bottom of the wells holes about 8 inches diameter and a 
foot deep are dug in the oleiferous patches of rock, in which the oil accumulates. 
It is collected twice a day; according to the sinkers, a good well will some¬ 
times yield 4 or 5 bottles twice during the first day, but the yield rapidly 
diminishes. A few wells are failures, and yield no oil. One of the head men of 
Minbain, who was engaged in the well-digging, informed mo that they are worked 
fi’om about the beginning of December till the commencement of the wet season. 
The wells being mostly in the beds of nallas, of course get filled ndth rubbish 
every rains, but, as the yield diminishes so much with age, the diggers do not 
mind this, and open others in fresh spots every' year. The annual yield is said to 
be about a thousand rupees worth of oil of late years. It is sold at six bottles 
per rupee. The total, therefore, would be 6,000 bottles or about 1,000 gallons. 
In the ridg-e which sti’etehes along the sea coast from Likmau to Minbain. 
the strata have a dip tlmoughout to south-west. The dip is very obscure in the 
ridge between the wells and Thengchaung, and it does not seem to be regular, 
but I observed some apparent indications of its having a general easterly ten¬ 
dency. If this be the case, the oil-bearing rocks near Minbain are probably at 
or near the axis of an anticlinal bend, a position which in many oil regions 
(some of those in America and Japan for instance) has been found a most 
favourable one for well-sinking. The present wells, as will have been seen, have 
merely grubbed at the surface. 
