Coal- Seams of Van Diemens Land. 131 



be selected after a careful examination of the surface, and 

 not merely at random, as is too much the fashion in under- 

 takings of a like nature, thereby often causing a useless 

 expenditure of both capital and labour. 



For the present wants of the Colony, however, I should 

 say that the Douglas Eiver District possesses in several 

 respects advantages and facilities for the production of 

 Coal not to be found combined in any other District I have 

 visited in Van Diemen's Land : these are — proximity to 

 the point of shipment, — absence of large masses of intrusive 

 igneous rock in the area to be worked, — and thickness, 

 extent, and number of workable seams. 



Supposing, however, only two workable seams to exist, — 

 one 8 feet, and one I foot 8 inches, — they would together, 

 after deducting one-fourth for loss in various ways, yield 

 upwards of 5,100,000 ton per square mile. 



The great depth (1600 or 1600 feet) at which over some 

 portion of the area the 8-foot seam would, in all proba- 

 bility, have to be worked need not be regarded as an insur- 

 mountable obstacle in the way of its being profitably 

 worked. 



5.— FALMOUTH TO FINGAL, AVOCA, AND 

 CLEVELAND. 



From Falmouth to the top of St. Mary's Pass the forma- 

 tion consists entirely of granite : descending towards the 

 Break-o'-day Valley at an elevation of about 1000 feet, 

 vertical clay-slates first make their appearance ; and resting 

 on these are beds of a very coarse quartz conglomerate, 

 principally composed of rounded pebbles of white quartz. 

 These beds would appear here to form the base of the car- 

 boniferous series, and are probably part of the same series 



