On the Anthracite Region, &c. of Pennsylvania. 55 
the boilers less corroded by sulphurous acid, while no bad 
effects are produced by smoke and bitumen. 
fe = hracite of Pennsylvania is located between the 
Blue Ridge and the Susquehanna, and has not. hitherto 
been found in other parts of the State, except in the valley of 
Wyoming. 
The anthracite district is principally occupied by moun- 
tains running parallel to the Blue Ridge, often broad with table 
land summits, and rising generally about 1500 feet above the 
ocean. With the exception of a few narrow valleys, this re- 
gion has little surface inviting cultivation. The summits, by 
repeated fires, have been divested of much timber, leaving, 
thinly scattered, pitch and yellow pine and white oak, and 
are generally toostony for tillage, but they may, at some future 
period, afford good ranges for cattle and sheep. -In anexten- 
sive elevated valley, bordering upon the head waters of the Le- 
high, there is considerable land clothed with a dense forest of 
beech, hemlock, maple, birch, &c. with a good soil for gra- 
zing. . The anthracite mountains, and ranges connected with 
them, are mostly in a state of nature, and afford retreats for 
panthers, wolves, bears, deer, and other animals resident in 
the unsettled parts of our country. In passing from the Ber- 
wick turnpike to Wilkesbarre, in a distance of thirty-five 
miles, I noticed but three dwellings, and two of these were 
log taverns lately erected. Between twenty and thirty pan- 
thers have been killed, within three years, by the hunters of 
Lowrytown, a settlement recently formed on the Lehigh. 
wacke slate, which occurs in abundance, loose on the surface 
South-west, and may often be traced for a considerable dis- 
tance by the compass. The veins have the inclination of the 
adjacent strata of gray wacke, with which they often alter- 
Rate, usually between 20° and 45°. In a few places they are 
