OF CENTRAL CANADA PART II. 



143 



ian strata of Gaspe in Eastern Quebec, as near Douglastown on the 

 St. John River, and on a branch of a small stream known as Silver 

 'Brook in the adjacent country, as first made known by the officers 

 of the Geological Survey. Viscous petroleum is cited also, in the 

 Geological Report for 1863, as occurring in cavities, many of which 

 are lined with chalcedony, &c., in a greenstone dyke at " Tar Point" 

 in Gaspe Basin. Indications of petroleum or asphalt have also been 

 noticed in other eruptive dykes of that region. 



111. Asphalt: Black, blackish-brown. In solid and also in 

 spongy or semi-viscous masses. H, in the solid varieties, = 1.0 

 2.0; sp. gr. 1.0 2.0. Very inflammable melting easily, and 

 burning with a yellow flame and emission of bituminous odour. 

 Consists essentially of Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Nitrogen, in 

 somewhat variable proportions. In many, if not in all cases, asphalt 

 is derived from petroleum, the two substances passing into each 

 other by insensible transitions. Petroleum thickens and assumes a 

 darker colour under certain conditions of exposure, and finally be- 

 comes solid and partially oxidized. The so-called " gum beds " or 

 " mineral-tar deposits " of Enniskillen may be referred to this 

 variety. These beds, which have evidently resulted from the drying 

 up of ancient overflows of petroleum, occupy, in the southern part of 

 the township, two detached areas of about an acre, each, in extent ; 

 and they present a thickness varying from a couple of inches to two 

 feet. A small deposit, covered by ten or twelve feet of drift clay, 

 and resting on gravel, occurs in the northern" part of the township. 

 This deposit is partly of a leafy texture, somewhat resembling the 

 so-called "paper coal" from the lignite deposits of the Rhine, <fec., 

 and its shaly layers exhibit the impressions of leaves and insects in 

 various places. Being mixed moreover with much earthy matter, 

 or " ash," the deposit has all the characters of a small coal-seam. 



112. Anthraxolite : Black, lustrous, resembling anthracite in 

 general characters, but very brittle. H = 2.25 2.5; sp.gr. 1.35 

 1.55. Generally decrepitates when heated. BB. a small frag- 

 ment loses its lustre, but exhibits ro further change. Composition, 

 essentially, carbon, with from 3 to 25 per cent, of volatile matter, 

 including a small amount of moisture. The ash, as at present ob- 

 served, varies from to 10 or 11 per cent. When present, it 

 exhibits under the microscope no trace of organic structure. This 

 substance, in all probability a product of alteration from petroleum 



