LOWER CAHHONIFKROL'S OF NEW HKL'NSWICK. 



233 



one of the most regular beds I found to be S. 18° W. magnetic. 

 Many of the shales contain scales of fish, and one of them has a 



Fig. 63. — Arched Strata, war 



Albeit Mine. 



Fig. 64. — Bent Strain, near 

 Albert Mine. 



peculiar oolitic structure, consisting of a laminated basis of impure 

 coaly matter or earthy bitumen, with crystalline calcareous grains, 

 which are removed by weathering, and leave a light vesicular 

 inflammable residuum of very singular aspect. The shales are in 

 some places remarkably bent and contorted, as if by lateral pressure 

 when in a soft state. A part of one of these flexures is accurately 

 represented in Fig. 64, and illustrates some appearances in the mine 

 to be subsequently noticed. 



"The principal shaft has been sunk perpendicularly from the 

 outcrop of the coal, and at its bottom is sixty-seven feet south 

 of it The gallery connecting the bottom of the shaft with the 

 coal shows thin-bedded bituminous shales with calcareous and 

 ironstone bands and concretions, dipping at the end nearest the 

 coal S.S.W., at an angle of 60°, though a dip to the S.E. is more 

 prevalent along this side of the mine. The coal at this place is about 

 ten feet in thickness, and its upper surface dips N.W. about 75°. On 

 the S.E., or under side, it rests against the edges of the somewhat 

 contorted beds already noticed as dipping to the southward, and on 

 the north-west side it is overlaid by similar beds dipping in the same 

 direction with the coal, but so much contorted as to present on the 

 small scale a most complicated and confused appearance. The coal 

 itself, as seen in mass underground, presents a beautiful and singular 

 appearance. It has a splendent resinous lustre and perfect conchoidal 

 fracture ; it is perfectly free from mineral charcoal and lines of impure 

 coal or earthy matter. It is, however, divided into prismatic pieces 

 by a great number of smooth divisional planes, proceeding from wall 

 to wall, much in the manner of the cross structure seen in carbonized 

 trees, and in the streaks of pitch-coal in the ordinary coals. At the 

 N.W. side or roof, the coal joins the rock without change. On the 

 S.IC. side, on the contrary, there is a portion of coal a few inches thick, 



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