205 



XXIV. 



A)ialysis of Qio^from Vmi Biemens Land ; with Itcj)ort. 

 By Sm H. De La Beche, O.B., F.R.S., &c. &c. 

 \_Read llth December, 1850.] 



C Enclosed to Sir W. Denison in a Despatch from Lord Grey.^ 



Geological Survey of the United Kingdom, 

 Bastow, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, 

 27th July, 1850. 



Sir, — I have the honour herewith to transmit, for the 

 information of Earl Grey, the Analysis made at the Museum 

 of Practical Geology, London, of specimens of Coal from 

 Van Diemen's Land, forwarded for examination by Sir 

 William Denison. 



Though several of the Coals, as far as they are represented 

 by the specimens, do not appear of good quality, nevertheless 

 there are two (from Adventure Bay and Douglas River, 

 East Coast), which so much approximate to good Newcastle 

 Coals, though with a large amount of ash, that it may be 

 very desirable somewhat fully to explore the localities 

 whence these Coals are derived, in order to ascertain their 

 thickness, mode of occurrence, and other circumstemces 

 connected with them, and perhaps also with other associated 

 Coal Beds. * 



When it is considered how little would be known of some 

 of our British Coal Districts if they were situated in distant 

 and little explored regions, from the somewhat rapid views 

 usually taken, and which can be expected from mere general 

 examinations of country, it seems desirable carefully to 

 ascertain the workable value of any Coal that may bo 

 discovered in Van Diemen's Land, — so that, while on tlie 

 one hand thin seams, however good, may not have a false 

 value attached to them ; on the other, thick beds, though of 

 inferior quaUty, should not be neglected, always supposing 

 that their mode of occurrence, and the importance of the 

 Coal as fuel, are such as to justify their being worked. 



It may be desirable to add, as regards information to be 

 derived from the analysis of the specimens of Coal usually 

 obtained during the ordinary first exploring of a country, 

 that such specimens are commonly of worse quality than 

 the beds whence they have been derived, when these beds 

 are worked at sufficient depths from the surface of land to 



