482 TRINIDAD. 



Should it be considered advisable to select some of these fuels 

 for trial of their practical value on an extended scale, Nos. 18 

 and 13 from Pointe Noire seem best adapted for general pur- 

 poses ; but for steam navigation No. 2, from the same district, 

 unites the valuable properties of superior density, only slight 

 caking tendency, and holding together well under transit. 



Specimens were sent to the Museum of Practical Geology 

 for examination; and here is the verdict of Sir Eoderick 

 Murchison : — 



" Having examined the fossil remains which are associated 

 with the combustible, I may now inform you that they are of a 

 very recent Tertiary age. Hence the combustible comes, geologi- 

 cally, within the class of lignites, which are of very inferior 

 value to the coal of real Carboniferous age. 



" At the same time it is right to state that some Tertiary 

 lignites possess an amount of calorific value which, in tracts 

 where the old coal does not exist, renders them of considerable 

 importance. Thus nearly all the Austrian steamers in the 

 Adriatic are worked by Tertiary coal, which in the relation of its 

 calorific value to the old coal is about 60 to 100. 



"No. 15 by distillation furnishes a considerable quantity of 

 hydrocarbon, and No. 18 would probably be valuable for gas 

 making ; but a large quantity of material will be required to 

 make satisfactory experiments in regard to their economic value. 



" These results, favourable as they are, being obtained from 

 surface specimens which have been deteriorated by weathering, do 

 not convey a fair idea of the value of the fuel which may be 

 obtained from subterranean workings. 



" It remains, of course, to be ascertained in the island whether 

 the beds of lignite can be easily worked by horizontal galleries ; 

 for if the fuel is attainable at a small cost, it may prove highly 

 valuable to the colony. 



(Signed) " Roderick L. Murchison." 



On a subsequent visit to the district adjacent to Pointe 

 Noire, the surveyors managed to obtain about twelve and a half 

 tons of coal. The whole of that quantity was conveyed by men 

 to Manzanilla for embarkation to Port-of- Spain. A ton of the 

 fuel was taken on board of H.M. steamer Buzzard for trial. In 



