UNDEVELOPED COAL FIELDS OF NOVA SCOTIA—GILPIN. 147 
It may be mentioned that Seat Wolf Island lying a short 
distance off the shore at Chimney Corner is composed of measures 
the same as those on the mainland, and this fact contributes to 
the permanence of any subaqueous extension of the coal seams. 
From Margaree to the northern end of Cheticamp Island there is 
a narrow fringe cf coal measures. [am not in possession of 
any intormation as to the indications of the presence of coal in 
the Cheticamp district. 
No point in the interior of the island presents coal measures, 
and it has been carefully examined by Mr. Fletcher. The two 
systems cecurring there are the felsites, syenites, limestones, ete., 
of the Laurentian and the basal conglomerates, limestones, gyp- 
sums and associated beds of the lower part of the earboniferous. 
Reports of discoveries of coal are not infrequently made from 
localities outside of those I have referred to, but so far as our 
geological information goes thay are not likely to prove of value, 
and the test of exploration has invariably sustained this view. 
At St. Lawrence Bay the coal seam is a black bituminous shale 
holding patches of coaly matter and associated with limestone 
and gypsum. 
At Hunter’s Mountain and Ingonish irregular and impure 
layers of coaly matter occur in the Lower Carboniferous. On 
the Mabou River, East Bay, and a number of other places work 
has been done on carbonaceous shales, which often carry sufh- 
cient carbon to burn and give heat enough to raise steam and to 
be used for domestic purposes. The percentage of ash, however, 
is a fatal barrier to their competition with imported Anthracite 
coal. These beds may present greater value as sources for the 
manufacture of oils, ete. 
Beds of graphitic shale or slate are frequently taken to indi- 
cate the vicinity of coal, or are tested with faith in the mining 
axiom that every mineral becomes richer the deeper it goes. 
Other discoveries of coal resolve themselves into beds of 
black fire clay or shale carrying streaks of coaly matter, or into 
limited masses of coal due to some small accumulation of plant 
remains, and consolidated into a more or less bituminous coal, 
often holding a high percentage of ash. 
