14 Schouten Island, 



seam of bituminous coal, of about 20 inches tliick, 

 reposing upon a series of shales and slaty clay, and 

 overlaid by a bed of unconsolidated gravel and boulders 

 of greenstone. 



This coal ignites readily, and yields a steady clear 

 flame, without splitting and flying. 



I traced the creek for about half a mile further, where 

 it ran over solid greenstone rock through a narrow gorge 

 between two hills, so as to exhibit on either bank con- 

 siderable sections of its columnar and prismatic structure. 

 I still found pieces of coal which had been floated 

 down in the stream ; and, of course, concluded that coal 

 existed in situ at a yet higher level, on the further side 

 of this ridge of greenstone ; but I was unable at the time 

 to follow out the investigation. 



One side of the valley through which this rivulet runs 

 is deeply covered with a gravelly alluvium, containing 

 numberless fragments of coal, from the size of a pea to 

 that of a foot square ; while the gravel on the opposite 

 side, and which overlies the seam of coal, is free from any 

 mixture of the sort. 



It is not unlikely that this seam, if prosecuted, may 

 expand, or lead to more productive beds, or that it may 

 prove to be continuous or closely associated with beds 

 which are said to crop out between high and low water- 

 mark on the sea-beach adjoining, and in the banks of 

 the Douglas River, which is not more than two or three 

 miles distant. 



I looked for a considerable seam in the Douglas Iliver, 

 but failed in detecting it. In the gravelly beds along 

 the banks, and in the eddies at the channel, were 

 numerous loose fragments of bituminous coal, varying 

 in appearance from dull schistose and greyish black to 

 bright, glistening, and jet-like, — a coal which burns 

 readily with a clear bright flame. The seam in the 

 Douglas is said to be eight or nine feet thick. 



