WILLIAM SMITH. 2$ 3 



below, and soon learnt enough of the order of the 

 strata to describe on a plan the manner of working 

 the coal in the lands I was then surveying. 



" Being engaged soon after to survey the lands 

 and take the levels of a canal that was proposed 

 to be made from the collieries to Bath, I observed 

 a variation of the strata on the same line of level, 

 and soon found that the lias rock, which about 

 three miles back was full three hundred feet above 

 this line, was now thirty feet below it, and became 

 the bed of the river, and in that direction did not 

 appear any more at the surface. This induced me 

 to note the inclination of the same rock, which I 

 knew was to be found at the head of two other 

 valleys lying each about a mile distant from, and 

 in a parallel direction to, the one just described, 

 and accordingly found it to dip the same to the 

 south-east, and sink under the rivers in a similar 

 manner. 



" From this I began to consider that other strata 

 might also have some general inclination as well 

 as this (though I had been frequently told by the 

 colliers that there was no regularity in the strata 

 above ground), yet, by tracing them through the 

 country some miles, I found the inclination of 

 every bed to be nearly the same as [that of] the 

 lias ; and notwithstanding the partial and local 

 dips of many quarries which varied from this rule, 

 I was thoroughly satisfied by these observations 

 that everything had a general tendency to the 

 south-east, and thence concluded there could be 



