298 THE CARBONIFEROUS OF CAPE BRETON— GILPIN. 
The problem presented by the Carboniferous of the River Inhabi- 
tants is a difficult one, and complicated by the apparent anomaly 
of part of the coal horizon being connected with gypsum and 
limestone. Mr. Fletcher estimates the total thickness of the 
Carboniferous rocks at 21,960 feet, which probably embraces. 
all the divisions alreaily described in the Eastern district, and 
the 1,350 feet of strata referred to by him as overlying the Little. 
River Coal Series (8,926 feet thick) may represent part of the. 
Upper Coal Division (No. 1) of Sir J. W. Dawson. 
The measures of the district do not present features alliage for 
special notice, and the description of the various subdivisions of 
the Eastern district may be applied here. Some of the sandstones 
and shales of the River Inhabitants are little more than compact 
sand and mud, while at other points they present the normal 
hardness of the carboniferous strata. 
But little is yet known about the extent and value of the 
River Inhabitants coal fields. A very considerable area of coal- 
bearing strata is indicated by the widely-separated coal erops at 
the mouth of the River and around the Basin. The paucity of 
outcrops, coupled with the presence of several large faults ranging 
through the district, have discouraged prospecting in the face of 
a dull coal trade. In the future the advantage of an all-winter. 
shipping port, like that of Carribacon Cove, will no doubt stimu- 
late the development of coal mines here, when the export of coal 
to the United States begins again. 
In order not to unduly extend this paper, I will on another 
occasion give a brief description of the carboniferous districts of 
the Western shore of the Island, and of their coal fields, with 
analyses of the coal and other economic minerals found in them, 
