lxxviii. Timehri. 



Pegass. 

 Large areas on the coastlands of the colony are covered with deposits 

 of " pegass " or tropical peat. Usually these deposits are from two to 

 five feet in depth but in places they exceed ten or even twelve feet. Pegass 

 in a dry state contains from 45 per cent, of organic combustible matters 

 in its ordinary varieties to as much as 90 per cent, in its more carbonaceous 

 ones. The organic matters of pegass may contain from 1.4 to 2.7 per 

 cent, of their weight of nitrogen. Thus a ton of dry pegass may contain 

 nitrogen equal to from 140 to 250 lbs. of sulphate of ammonia. Unfortu- 

 nately no mode is known by which all the nitrogen can be recovered as 

 ammonia. Pegass should be utilisable in the immediate future as a 

 source of producer-gas, with sulphate of ammonia and various other 

 derivatives, for instance tar, as its by-products. 



Water. 

 This Society from time to time has shown interest in the various 

 problems which have arisen in connection with supplies of uncontaminated 

 water for household-purposes. During the period under review much atten- 

 tion has been directed in the colony toward obtaining supplies of potable 

 water from underground sources. For several years the aquifers tapped 

 in the numerous wulls put down by the late Mr. T. Wardle were only the 

 comparatively shallow ones yielding either very saline or highly ferrugi- 

 nous waters. The Mortality Commission of 1895 over which I had the 

 honour to preside made a strong recommendation that deep bores should 

 be put down in the hope of tapping supplies of uncontaminated water. 

 The Drought Committee of 1912 strongly pressed on the Government the 

 desirability of a practical trial with the result that the first deep artesian 

 bore was put-down in 1913 in the environs of Georgetown on the 

 D'Urban Park. That boring was successful beyond all expectation and is 

 still in full flow. Since then over 20 deep artesian borings have been put 

 down. The usual difficulties met with where borings for artesian water are 

 put down on recent alluvial or deltaic deposits on sloping artesian planes 

 with regard to the permanency of the yield of water from the wells have 

 been experienced here. These have not yet been overcome, but doubtless 

 in a short time our engineers will have got the better of them, and will 

 have placed us in a position of security with regard to the permanency 

 of the artesian flowing- wells. 



In 1897 we knew that in the alluvium there were sandy beds yield- 

 ing either saline or ferruginous waters, some possibly of medicinal value, 

 and at the suggestion of the Society analyses were made in that year of 

 the waters yielded by the various wells which had tapped them. Now we 

 know that practically everywhere under the inhabited parts of the coast- 

 lands of the colony there are vast artesian reservoirs of pure and uncon- 

 taminated potable water. These, however, vary in depth from the 

 ground-level from about 300 feet in North East Essequibo to not less 

 than 500 feet in the middle and south east of the colony. As a rule, to 

 which at present we have not found any exception, the waters in 



