STEVENSON— INTERRELATIONS OF THE FOSSIL FUELS. 27 



several localities in the south and east divisions, where all the streams 

 are blackwater. Some of the Borneo peat is very good, that col- 

 lected by J. W. V^an Nouhys containing only 4.58 per cent, of ash. 



A very great part of the fenland in the x\rchipelago has been 

 drained and converted into rice, sugar cane or tobacco plantations, 

 but Wichmann estimates that the area of existing fens exceeds 

 1,000,000 hectares or more than 3,800 square miles. The uniformity 

 of climatal conditions prevents the variations observed in fens of 

 colder regions. The structure, in Wichmann's opinion, resembles 

 that seen in the Coal Measures, where roots of Lepidodendron and 

 Sigillaria are found in the floor of coal beds ; so in the tropical fens, 

 the trees are rooted in the subjacent clay. As accumulation of peat 

 does not choke the trees rapidly, these frecjuently remain erect in 

 the peat. 



It would seem to be sufficiently evident that a hot climate offers 

 no hindrance to the accumulation of peat, if only the conditions 

 exist which are required for that accumulation in a cool climate. 



Even a very severe climate does not prevent the growth of peat. 

 Nathorst" visited the Renntier-tal of Spitzbergen in 1882 and saw 

 there, resting on the river debris, 0.25 meter of clayey peat under- 

 lying 2 meters of peat : he cites Gunnar Andersson as stating that 

 the upper division consists chiefly of brown moss, but that some 

 layers are crowded with leaves of Salix polaris. Nathorst found a 

 leaf of Salix reticulata in the underlying impure peat. Andersson 

 believes that peat-formation has ceased in Spitzbergen and that the 

 deposits are relics of a less cold period. Be that as it may, there 

 can be no doubt that bogs are numerous, though in many instances 

 they are thin. The writer in 1904 found enough peat on both sides 

 of Advent bay, N.L. 78°, to make walking not too attractive and 

 there was living vegetation on the surface in many places. A. E. 

 Stevenson reported that the black mud is more than knee-deep for 

 considerable distances along the shore of Icefiord to more than 12 

 miles south from below Advent bay. Peat was seen on Bell sound. 



3 A. G. Nathorst, " Beitriige zur Geologie der Baren Insel, Spitzbergen, 

 iind des Konig-Karl. Landes," B\dl. Geol. Inst. Univ. Upsala, Vol. X., 1910, 

 P- 403. 



