42 



Monday morning tlie water was found to Have risen 64 feet in 

 the pipe, bringing with it, of course, a large quantity of sand. 

 This was not cleared out until 5 p.m. on Tuesday, when the 

 water rose again immediately to within 40 feet of the surface. 

 Prom 124 feet to 131 feet there was found a layer of soft 

 black clay, below which, on the 13th October, the quicksand 

 was again met, now tinged brown with decayed wood, pieces 

 of which were brought up in the pump. Upon entering this 

 sand the water rose 50 feet in the pipe. The next day the 

 pipe was cleaned out, but the sand again rose round the tools, 

 which were so firmly jammed that it was found impossible to 

 extricate them without raising the pipe. After two and a half 

 days of unavailing efforts with screwjacks, which gave a lifting 

 power of 84 tons, it was decided to abandon the hole, and to 

 commence another about 2 feet distant from it. The pipes 

 were left in, for fear of disturbing the strata and causing the 

 pipes in the new bore to jam. When the work is completed, 

 the additional necessary power will be applied, and the pipes, 

 if possible, drawn. 



On the 7th November a start was made with the new hole. 

 Upon reaching the same depth (131 feet), the black salt water 

 rose 72 feet in the pipe, but by hard work it was kept under, 

 and the pipes driven through 29 feet of the sand into a layer 

 of grey sandy clay containing ironstone. The lower portion 

 of the quicksand was coarser, and also contained large iron- 

 stone pebbles in addition to the decayed wood found through- 

 out. On piercing the five feet of grey clay, a fine grey 

 quicksand was met at a depth of 155 feet, extending with 

 slight modification for 50 feet, and containing near the bottom 

 £i layer of decaj^ed wood three feet thick. The water in this 

 sand was brown and salt, and rose to the sea level eacli time 

 that it overcame the pumps. On one occasion it lifted the 

 sand-pump and its contents — weighing 5001bs. — to a consider- 

 able height, and span it round as in a whirlpool. Thin layers 

 of clay, ironstone, quicksand, and gravel were next traversed, 

 and at 211 feet the pipes entered a black clay, and the quick- 

 saud was conquered after a nine weeks' struggle. Underlying 

 eight feet of this clay was a layer of ironstone and hard black 

 rock, only two feet thick, but suflicient to prevent the farther 

 driving of the eight-inch pipes. Beneath this rock lay nine 

 feet of stiff brown clay, followed by one foot of grey sand, 

 and 29 feet more of the clay. - The sand — being enclosed 

 between two impermeable strata — contained a strong vein of 

 very salt water. Then followed 38 feet of white })ipeclay, 

 four feet of grey sandstone, and a thin shell of soft brown 

 rock, beneath which were eight feet of very hard blue clay, 

 passing at 310 feet from the surface into hard blue slate. 



