DISCOVERY 



25- 



theatre, for the miners and engineers. Wireless 

 telegraphy keeps them in touch with the outside world. 

 There is a Norwegian post-office, and a well-stocked 

 shop supphes all reasonable wants. Fresh meat 

 brought from Norway in autumn is served out two 

 or three times a week. There is practically no illness, 

 now that scurvy is mastered, but the settlement has a 

 doctor in residence and a small, well-equipped hospital. 

 Several women have wintered and children have been 

 bom in Spitsbergen. A school and a church are to be 

 buUt. Several centuries ago Spitsbergen had an even 

 larger town occupied only during summer. That was 

 Smeerenburg, the Dutch whaling settlement, which had 

 a population of over 1,000, and contained shops, 

 bars, and other amenities of civilization. With the 

 decline of whaling the town was abandoned, and 

 scarcely a trace remains to-day. 



The geological structure of Spitsbergen, broadly 

 speaking, shows two contrasted districts. Along the 

 west coast and in the north of the archipelago there 

 is a zone of old rocks ridged into mountain folds, and 

 subsequently weathered into the sharp peaks which 

 gave the country its name, while in the central and 

 eastern parts there is a broad zone of newer rocks lying 

 in the main in horizontal or gently incUned strata, 

 and weathered into table- topped mountains. In the 

 old rocks there are various metallic ores, including the 

 iron-ore of Prince Charles Foreland, but it is in 

 the newer rocks that the great coal deposits occur. 

 Coal of three geological ages is found. Carboniferous, 

 Jurassic, and Tertiary. Of these the Jurassic coal 

 was first mined, but it proved to be of poor quality, and 

 is no longer worked. The Tertiary coal, unlike the 

 coal of that age in most countries, is of high calorific 

 value and good for steam purposes. It is the principal 

 coal mined at present. There appear to be several 

 seams ranging in thickness from 3i to 7 feet. Only 

 one of them shows the least tendency to pass to lignite. 

 The Carboniferous coal is a later discovery than the 

 others, because its outcrops are frequently obscured 

 by screes and slip masses, but the deposits are very 

 extensive. It is the only coking coal in Spitsbergen. 

 There are many seams totalling over 6 feet. There is 

 little doubt that the total content of coal in Spitsbergen 

 is over 5,000,000,000 tons. 



Conditions are favourable for coal-mining. The 

 extensive faulting of tlie almost horizontal strata has 

 caused deep water%vays into the heart of the country. 

 Icefjord and its branches, and Lowe Sound lead to 

 most of the coal seams. The coal can be reached easily 

 by almost level adits into the hUlside within a few 

 hundred yards of good anchorage. The low tempera- 

 tures prevent flooding and obviate the necessity for 

 extensive pumping. Gas is practically unknown. Frost 

 also helps to maintain a firm roof, and so reduces the 



[Continued (m p, 36 



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