COAL 



843 



1. Tho western or Hainault division, comprising 



a, Tho two basins known as Levant and Couchant of Mons, 

 That of Charloroi. 



b. The basin of Namur. 



2. The eastern or Liege division. 



The Quantities of Cod of different Qualities raised in Belgium 1 from 1859 to 1866. 



1 The Coal of Belgium is divided commercially into the following qualities : Maigre, Lean Coal ; 

 Sbchc, Dry Coal ; and Grasse, Fat Coal. These kinds are again divided into Gros, picked large coal ; 

 Tout Venant, the remainder after the selection of the Gros, equivalent to ' through and through ' coal ; 

 GalUette, smaller than the Gros, but not less than six inches square ; Menu, coal which passes through 

 a sieve with 11-Inch meshes ; Gailletterie, the coal which remains after the separation of the Gaillette 

 and Menu. 



NETHEBLANDS. There is only one coal-mine in Holland. It is situated in the 

 province of Limburg. 



FHANCE. The most important coal-fields of France are those of the basin of Loire 

 and those of St.-Etienne, which are the best known and largest, comprising about 50,000 

 acres. In this basin are eighteen beds of bituminous coal, and in the immediate 

 neighbourhood several smaller basins containing anthracite. Other valuable localities 

 are in Alsace, several in Burgundy worked by very deep pits, and of considerable 

 extent ; some in Auvergne with coal of various qualities ; some in Languedoc and 

 Provence with good coal ; others at Aveyron ; others at Limosin ; and some in 

 Normandy. Besides these, there are several others of smaller dimensions and less 

 extent, whose resources have not yet been developed. The total area of coal in France 

 has not been ascertained, but is probably not less than 2,000 square miles. The 

 annual production in 1865, exceeded 11,000,000 tons. But the coal of France is of 

 an inferior description ; and, therefore, when good and strong coals are required, the 

 supply is obtained from the English coal-fields. The mineral combustibles of Franco 

 were estimated in 1864 by the Government engineers as follow: 



Tons 



Anthracites 800,000 



Hard coal short flame 1,400,000 



Forging coal 600,000 



Bituminous coal long flame 4,000,000 



Soft coal long flame 3,000,000 



Lignites 200,000 



Total 



10,000,000 



