UNDEVELOPED COAL FIELDS OF NOVA SCOTIA GILPIN. 147 



It maybe mentioned that Seat Wolf Island lying a short 

 distance off the shore at Chimney Corner is composed of measures 

 the same as those on the mainland, and this fact contributes to 

 the permanence of any subaqueous extension of the coal seams. 

 From Margaree to the northern end of Cheticamp Island there is 

 a narrow fringe of coal measures. I am not in possession of 

 any information as to the indications of the presence of coal in 

 the Cheticarnp district. 



No point in the interior of the island presents coal measures, 

 and it has been carefully examined by Mr. Fletcher. The two 

 systems occurring there are the felsites, syenites, limestones, etc., 

 of the Laurentian and the basal conglomerates, limestones, gyp- 

 sums and associated beds of the lower part of the carboniferous. 



Reports of discoveries of coal are not infrequently made from 

 localities outside of those I have referred to, but so far as our 

 geological information goes they are not likely to prove of value, 

 and the test of exploration has invariably sustained this view. 

 At St. Lawrence Bay the coal seam is a black bituminous shale 

 holding patches of coaly matter and associated with limestone 

 and gypsum. 



At Hunter's Mountain and Ingonish irregular and impure 

 layers of coaly matter occur in the Lower' Carboniferous. On 

 the Mabou River, East Bay, and a number of other places work 

 has been done on carbonaceous shales, which often carry suffi- 

 cient carbon to burn and give heat enough to raise steam and to 

 be used for domestic purposes. The percentage of ash, however, 

 is a fatal barrier to their competition with imported Anthracite 

 coal. These beds may present greater value as sources for the 

 manufacture of oils, etc. 



Beds of graphitic shale or slate are frequently taken to indi- 

 cate the vicinity of coal, or are tested with faith in the mining 

 axiom that every mineral becomes richer the deeper it goes. 



Other discoveries of coal resolve themselves into beds of 

 black tire clay or shale carrying streaks of coaly matter, or into 

 limited masses of coal due to some small accumulation of plant 

 remains, and consolidated into a more or less bituminous coal, 

 often holding a high percentage of ash. 



