98 ORIGIN OF THIS BITUMEN. 



of the former country, or from the Cannel coal of Eng 

 land. 



The occurrence of a bed of bitumen in a coal-field 

 is, however, a very remarkable circumstance, and is 

 especially difficult to account for in a country which is 

 not as yet known to contain any large seams of coal. 

 Above the enormous anthracite deposits of Pennsylvania, 

 from which, in some remote period, vast quantities of 

 bituminous matter must have been distilled, we should 

 not have wondered to find such a bed as this of New 

 Brunswick. Will its occurrence in this locality justify us 

 in supposing that such beds of anthracite actually exist 

 below it ? 



I have mentioned the existence of a bed of hard 

 highly bituminous shale, containing fragments of bitu 

 men, which is worked as a coal in the neighbourhood of 

 Dorchester. It is possible that this pure bitumen may 

 be connected with that layer of bituminous shale, and 

 may even graduate into it. 



From my inn at Hopewell, I made an excursion of 

 twenty miles towards the mouth of the bay, as far as Cape 

 Enrage. After two miles of indifferent grey-sandstone 

 soils, we came upon red land, which, with occasional inter 

 vals, extended almost to the cape. Shepody Mountain 

 appeared as a striking object on the right. The red-sand 

 stone conglomerate dipped under it, and the same forma 

 tion appeared to predominate as far in advance of us as 

 the eye could reach, forming long bold rounded ridges 

 and hills, the summits and general appearance of which 

 reminded me of the conglomerate hills of Monmouthshire. 



Eight or ten miles brought us to the mouth of 

 Shepody River, which rises in a low marshy lake among 

 these hills, and empties itself into Haw-haw Bay. Around 

 this bay, and on the banks of the river, there are upwards 

 of twenty square miles of marsh-land. That which 

 is next the sea, being undyked and liable to overflow, is 



