330 On the Geology of the Northwestern Regions of America. 
tee nature of the woody fibres cannot be detected by the micro- 
Some pieces have a strong resemblance to charcoal, in 
aecniuen color, and lustre. Very frequently the coal may be 
named a ‘ bituminous slate,’ of which it has many of the litholog- 
ical characters; but, on examination with a lens, it is seen to. 
composed of comminuted woody matter mixed with clay and 
small imbedded fragments resembling charred wood. From the 
readiness with which the coal takes fire spontaneously, the beds 
are destroyed as they become exposed to the atmosphere, and the 
bank is constantly crumbling down; so that it is only when the 
debris has been washed away by the river that good. sections 
are exposed.””* 
Formations similar to that found on Mackenzie River extend 
southward along the eastern base,of the Rocky Mountains, as 
faras the Saskatchewan River. Sir John Richardson gives 
detailed account of the various localities between these two 
points in which beds of coal have been exposed,—all pointing to 
the existence of a vast coal-field, skirting the base of the Rocky 
Mountains for a very great extent, and continued probably far 
into the Arctic Sea, where, as is well known, lignite, apparently 
of a similar character, has recently been discovered by Captain 
McClure in the same general line with the localities above men- 
tioned.t} In the coal of Jameson Land, lying in north latitude 
* With reference to the southern Pigtiey of this coal- bah he it is ed ae 
's 
in the valley of the Saskatchewan, ir George ‘Simpson, Governor of the Hu 
y Territories, has the following tnd , in his ‘ Narrative aban pater 
round the World? v th ri pr 162 — 
“Near Fort Edmonton a seam of coal, about 10 feet i Z Ry can be traced for 
sss considerable vaiveunbe along both sides of the This coal resembles 
slate in appearance; and, though i it ee a prided ihe ht “gi than that of . 
an ordinary chimney, yet it is found t r_tolerably sae for the blacksmith’s 
forge. Ba ree are also found fier’ fk in r abdadibed and at the fen there was @ 
pure 8tone which had once been a log of wood about 6 feet in id 4 or 5 in 
girth, the eveeeebiah shelp so complete as even to deceive the eye. 
_ Sir Alexander MeKensie traced the same formation along the upper parts of the 
eace River ; and it has been found by ne traders of the Hudson’s Bay Company 
that the f seein slo points along the same general line ; leading to o the conclusion 
uninterru, 
+ Simi peste to those discovered by Capt. N Mobis have been found i in the 
New ake slands, and are thus described in ngell’s Polar Voy Oe 
these [speak es the saree of fossil wood in he New Siberian Islands] Heden- 
fitdet obecives ‘Siberia are found 
the remarkable Wood H d consis 4 
strata of seers Siernatiig with strata of bituminous beams or trunks of trees. 
On ascending these hills, fossilized charcoal is everywhere met with, covered appat- 
ently with ashes ; but on closer examination, this ash is also found to be » petrifac- 
tion, and so hard that it can scarcely be. scraped off sphere a knife, On the summit 
nother curiosity is a. viz.a long row of beams, resembling the former, but 
fixed perpendicularly in the sandstone. The ends, which project a 7 to 10 “agi? 
, ; a ruinous 
are for the | wi the appearance 
Lieut. Anjou, w soe say They are mer # 
thio hoa dedlivity, 20 fathoms high. extending about five ir gaiy em 
this bank, w sea, beams or trunks of trees are fot ne 
in an ho i rity, fifty or more of them together, 
