Coal and Gold Deposits in Natal. 59 



feet thick, or, according to Dr. Molengraaf,* entirely absent, in 

 some places near the northern border of the Colony. This thinning 

 in some degree supports the idea that they are Dwyka shales, and 

 is of interest in connection with the close association of coal seams 

 with the Dwyka conglomerate at Vereeniging. The term Natal Coal 

 Measures, though locally useful, is thus not quite suitable for a 

 series which is important, and contains valuable coal seams, far 

 outside the Colony. It may be desirable to say that though adopting 

 the Ecca correlation, I do not definitely decide on the doubtful 

 question as to whether the Natal Coal Measures should be placed 

 in the Ecca or the Beaufort series, but I consider that in either case 

 they should be named, studied and mapped as a separate division. 



We now turn to the consideration of the distribution of coal in 

 the Natal Coal Measures. Speaking generally, and without regard 

 to local washouts and igneous intrusions, it may be said that except 

 to the west of the railway line from Harrismith to Durban, and in 

 Durban and Victoria Counties, we find coal, in seams over a foot 

 thick, wherever the proper horizon in the coal measures is pierced, 

 but elsewhere the measures do not show any important seams. 



On the farm " Magnolia,"! on the high ground between Grey- 

 town and Reitvlei, the outcrops of six thin seams are exposed, the 

 thickest seam at the place containing i' 5^" of coal. It is about 

 4,030 feet above sea level. On the farm " Pampoen Nek," in the 

 same neighbourhood, where the principal coal seam is thicker, a 

 borehole§ 459 feet deep has been put down beneath the seam, proving 

 alternate beds of sandstone and shale belonging to the coal measures 

 to a depth of about 400 feet, where the Ecca shales were apparently 

 reached. 



To the north-west of the Greytown Coalfield, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Mooi River, Willow Grange, Estcourt, and Frere, 

 numerous thin seams outcrop, but none have yet been proved to be 

 of value, though much drilling has been done in search of payable 

 seams. Probably each of the boreholes mentioned, with the exception 

 of that at Mooi River, is entirely in the coal measures. The published 

 section of the Mooi River borehole is unreliable, owing to a mis- 

 leading use being made of the term " Boulder clay." From examina- 

 tion of the ore it appears to me probable the Ecca shales were 

 reached at a depth of about 950 feet, that is, about 900 feet below 

 a thin coal seam pierced by the bore. * 



Between Colenso and Pepworth stations the coal measures are 

 absent, the Ecca shales being exposed owing to a great upthrow of 

 a strip of the strata, the vertical displacement being probably not 

 much less than 1,000 feet. The southern fault probably runs along 

 the Tugela Vallev near Colenso, turning off near Spion Kop towards 

 Harrismith, and passing a little to the east of Acton Homes. The 

 northern fault runs from about three-quarters of a mile south of 



* Geological Survey Report, S.A.R., 1898. 

 + Mines Department Report, Natal, 1898. 

 § Vide Mines Department Report, Natal, l{ 



