76 Richmond and Jerusalem. 



from the mouth there is a branch-gallery to the right, 

 along which the coal has been worked towards the dip of 

 the seam : about 40 yards further there is another branch- 

 passage driven in the same direction. In both these 

 subordinate galleries water now stands to some depth : 

 about 10 or 12 yards from the extreme end of the main 

 gallery a short working has been effected to the left. 



The coal seam thins out, and is lost rather abruptly, 

 about 10 yards from the termination of the main gallery, 

 in fine dark grey sandstone, which is there harder than 

 elsewhere : the seam is also lost in the working to the 

 left ; in the second working, on the right, it also thins 

 out to a very inconsiderable thickness, and is lost in 

 the water now accumulated on the floor there. 



It is becoming daily more difficult to traverse these 

 passages, from the frequent falling in of sandstone and 

 the lining of timber from the roof and sides. 



The loss of this seam has been stated by practical 

 miners to be the result of a fault or dislocation of the 

 strata; but it looks more like the natural thinning out 

 of the edge of a basin. 



About 20 yards in the course of the dip, along the 

 foot of the steep bank, there remains the closed entrance 

 of another drift, which was never pushed, I believe, to 

 any extent. By the side of this entrance the coal 

 again crops out, affording a good opportunity of deter- 

 mining the inclination of the beds. 



The coal seam, and the massive grey sandstone in 

 which it reposes, dip at about 1 in 17 or 18 to south 

 west or south south west : but the brown sandstone, 

 which overlies the whole, though its general inclination 

 is the same, undulates, and varies from point to point 

 in a way to indicate considerable disturbance during the 

 period of its dejDOsition. 



The Coal-mine creek, which formerly ran close along 



