1826,] ScieutifiQ Notices — Miscellaneous, 151 



any of them. It is generally associa,ted with a riph earthy 

 Joam, and seems to derive its origin from great deposits of 

 timber, compressed under alluvial, or, to speak in a newer lan- 

 guage, diluvial matters, and impregnated with the bitumen, 

 exuding in immense quantities from the carboniferous limestone, 

 which exists in enormous masses in this country, constituting 

 whole districts and ridges of mountains. The shells and co* 

 rallines of the limestone are very fine and perfect. The fibrous 

 structure, and, indeed, the shape of the trees, may still be 

 clearly traced in the coal. From the twisted state of the woody 

 layers, I suspect that a great portion of the coal has been formed 

 from roots, or from trees that have grown in a climate equally 

 severe with this; the resemblance being very perfect to the 

 wood of the spruce fir, which grows in the surrounding country/' 



Additional Information, 

 *' Here I am once more housed for the winter. 



Hebrum prospiciens, et nive candidam 

 Thracem, ac pede barbaro 

 Lustratum Rhodopen, 



After six months of constant travelling our winter residence is 

 pleasantly situate on the bank of a lake 150 miles long, deep, 

 and abounding in fish, its shores well wooded, considering the 

 high latitude, and frequented by moose deer, musk oxen, and 

 rein deer. We have abundant stores for next year's voyage, 

 but our party is large, and we depend on the fishery and chase 

 for support during the winter, yet hope to fare well. In out 

 excursion of three weeks along the lake, which I made since 

 my arrival, I obtained a boat load of excellent venison, and ouF 

 nets have occasionally given us 50 or 60 trout in a day, weighing 

 each from 20 lb. to 50 lb. besides 200 to 300 of a smaller fish, 

 called fresh water herrings. Notwithstanding all these com- 

 forts the wiser part of us live in some fear ; for any sudden 

 amelioration of the climate, produced by the approach of a 

 comet to the earth, or any other of the commotions amongst 

 the heavenly orbs, dreaded by astronomers, might cause us to 

 be swept into the lake, as, our fort being built on an ice berg, a 

 thaw might prove fatal to its stability. The ground, although 

 it produces trees of considerable size, is constantly frozen ; the 

 mud with which our house is plastered was dug out by the aid 

 of fires last month, and now, at the close of the summer, the 

 excavation under our hall floor, which we intended to convert 

 into a cellar, has been worked only to the depth of three feet, 

 its walls of clay being frozen as firm and harder than a rock. I 

 hope, however, we shall escape such a catastrophe, as Moore, 

 in his almanack, says nothing about it ; unless, indeed, he 

 means to give us a hint, when he says, ' About this time, before 



