Schouten Island, 5 



Recurring to the coal in the spot (C) where I have 

 indicated it as being accessible by water almost to the 

 outcrop of the seams, I have to state that I found there 

 the remains of considerable workings. 



This enabled me to see that the strata immediately 

 over and under the coal are of white fire-clay, and replete 

 with vegetable impressions, which fire-clay is succeeded 

 on either hand by soft carbonaceous sandstone and 

 shales. 



There are two seams of coal diagonally intersecting 

 the face of the hill : the upper is a thin one of worthless 

 stony anthracite, about 40 feet up the bank : the lower 

 seam is a valuable one ; it measures throughout 6 to 6| 

 feet, and consists in its upper part of a subordinate layer 

 of anthracite of a porous and coke-like character, with 

 several layers in succession of bituminous coal, separated 

 only by two or three very thin bands of shale and hard- 

 ened and altered clays, and having a few inches of hard 

 black shale under all. From a seam of such magnitude 

 and quality it is reasonable to expect, after making fair 

 allowance for waste, that at least four feet of good coal for 

 domestic or other purposes might be realized. 



It is usual to include under the name of anthracite all 

 non-bituminous coal. 



There are two sorts, however : one is light, porous, 

 and hard, with great tenacity ; the other is slaty, dull, 

 earthy, and heavy. 



The former burns freely, has great heating powers, and 

 yields its caloric rapidly. 



The latter ignites only at a high temperature, burns 

 slowly, and radiates the heat which it is capable of pro- 

 ducing through a longer period of time, and is of course 

 a less efficient heating agent. 



It will be convenient to distinguish these two sorts of 

 anthracite by the terms earthy and coke-like, differing as 

 they do so widely in their qualities and value. 



