COAL FIELDS. 127 



their attention to Nova Scotia, where coal has not to be 

 raised from the bowels of the earth, but lies comparatively 

 near the surface in apparently inexhaustible quantities. 

 The coal field of Pictou, Nova Scotia, is said by mineral- 

 ogists to be the most extraordinary carboniferous deposit 

 in the world. A seam of coal occurs here 40 feet in 

 thickness, and not more than a couple of hundred feet 

 from the surface, besides many other lesser ones of 

 18 feet, 20 feet, and so on. Coal can be delivered on 

 board ship at Pictou harbour for 8s. or 9s. per ton ; and I 

 presume if there was more capital employed in the mines 

 and improved machinery, the cost would be very much 

 less. In Cape Breton county the productive coal measures 

 cover 250 square miles. In Cumberland county a seam pf 

 coal 12 feet 9 inches lies near the surface ; and another 

 11 feet 9 inches, about 200 feet below the surface. 

 Around the coast of Cape Breton seams of coal many feet 

 in thickness are exposed along the cliffs. 



The quality of the coal is excellent. For domestic 

 purposes the Cape Breton coal is fully equal to the best 

 English coals, and little, if at all, inferior to the best 

 Welsh. For steam purposes, Nova Scotia coal is superior 

 to English and Scotch coal, and equal, if not superior, 

 even to Welsh coal. In an inquiry instituted by the 

 Admiralty into the steam-producing qualities of certain 

 samples of coals, the following results were arrived at : 



Description Pounds of Water 



of evaporated by 1 Ib. 



Coal. of Coal at 212. 



Welsh 9-05 



Newcastle 8'37 



Lancashire 7'9t 



Scotch 7-70 



Derbyshire 7 '58 



