858 COAL 



level of the sea. In somo of the coal-scams the ccal did not appear to be perfectly 

 mineralised, and in others it was compact and remarkably lustrous.' Fremont s 

 Ecport, 1843. 



In 1847 a coal-mine was discovered near San Luis Obisco, North lat. 35. There 

 aro three coal-mines -within 300 miles of Monterey. 



MEXICO. On Salado river coal is worked by an American company. A coal- 

 formation 50 miles in breadth crosses the Rio Grande from Texas into Mexico at 

 Lorodo ; and on the Mexican shore, within 200 yards of the Bio Grande, a remarkably 

 fine vein of coal 8 feet thick occurs. 



TEXAS. Coal is known to exist in Texas, though the country has not been 

 geologically examined. The ' Trinity Coal and Mining Company ' was incorporated 

 by the Texan Congress in 1840, who worked both anthracite and a semi-bituminous 

 coal. Kennedy in his work ' Texas, its Geography, &c.,' says ' Coal, both anthracite 

 and bituminous, abounds from the Trinity River to the Rio Grande.' 



SOTJTH AMERICA. In the Republic of Now Granada, especially at Santa F6 do 

 Bogota, coal occurs : also in the island of Santa Clara, and brown coal in the province 

 of Panama. 



VENEZUELA is said to contain coal, but whether brown or bituminous does not 

 appear certain. 



PERU appears to possess some coal, but a fossil charcoal of considerable value is more 

 abundant. 



CHILI. The coal of this district has been examined by mnny American engineers, 

 nnd by Captains Fitzroy and Beechy and Mr. Darwin. In 1844 upwards of 20 coal- 

 mines were open in the neighbourhood of Conception. At Tulcahnano a new seam of 

 4.J- feet was proved. The coal is described by W. R. Johnson as, ' in external ap- 

 pearance nearly related to many of the richest bituminous coals of America and 

 Europe ; ' and Mr. Wheelwright, in his report on the mines and coal of Chili, says, 

 ' in fact, the whole southern country is nothing but a mine of coal.' 

 BRAZIL does not possess much coal of value. 



The following communications from John Miers, Esq., F.R.S. and from N. Plant, Esq., 

 give all that is known respecting the two coal-fields of Brazil : 



' The coal-mine for which the Visconde de Barbacena obtained a privilege is in the 

 province of Sta. Catherina, where extensive deposits are found in a district near the 

 junction of two small rivers flowing from the Serragerul de Sta. Catherina, and which 

 unite to form the Rio Tuberao, which runs eastward for about 70 miles, when it enters 

 the Lake of Laguna, in lat. 28 23' S. The lake or bay is sufficiently deep and 

 capacious, and is available for sea-going vessels with a draft of 11 feet, which is the 

 depth of water over the bar in its mouth. The Rio Tuberao is navigable by vessels of 

 that capacity as far as Piedade, which is 27 miles from the point of its entrance into 

 the bay ; but above that distance the river is only navigable by smaller craft for a few 

 miles ; so that Piedade will be the shipping port for the coal, which will have to be 

 conveyed by a tramway from the mine, 45 miles long, along a course nearly due east 

 and west, upon a gentle gradient. At that distance no less than 20 different sitos 

 have been seen on both sides of the Tuberao where the coal deposits crop out, the river 

 running over several beds. This district is situated in a beautiful and well-wooded 

 country, about 880 English feet above the level of the- sea, and upon the northern 

 flanks of the Morro de Sta. Martha or de Congouhas, a spur of the main serra that ex- 

 tends for a long distance parallel with the coast. This spur runs eastward, and term- 

 inates at a point 4 leagues soxith of Laguna. This coal-formation is evidently of con- 

 siderable extent, for similar deposits are found on the southern flanks of the same 

 spur, near the sources of the Rio Ararangua, which runs eastward, and falls into the 

 ocean in lat. 28 48 S., and which is navigable for a distance ef 20 miles to Tresportes, 

 where it is broad and deep. The Visconde de Barbacena's mining ground is on the Rio 

 Bonito, an affluent of the Tuberao, where the coal shows itself wherever the surface of 

 the hills has become denuded by gullies formed by springs, presenting cliffs, 40 feet 

 high. Here the coal-deposits aro visible to a depth of from 10 to 14 feet, and these aro 

 covered by a roofing of hard sandstone 20 feet deep. Immediately below the upper 

 bed is another layer of coal 6 inches deep ; then a stratum of greyish schist with fossil 

 vegetable remains, succeeded by a bed of good solid coal 8 feet thick ; then a layer of 

 black schist, and another bod of coal 1 foot thick. How much deeper these beds may 

 be is unknown, as the ground has not been bored ; but it is probable that deep beds of 

 more valuable coal exist. There is, however, a sufficient store above ground to admit of 

 extensive workings without the necessity of sinking shafts, or of the ordinary expense of 

 raising the coal to the surface by means of steam machinery. The existence of a thick 

 sandstone roofing, containing vegetable impressions, offers good promise as regards 

 this coal-formation. The samples exhibited in the Paris Exhibition brought from 

 this mine were much broken by long carriage, but they showed a tolerably bright coal, 





