100 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [DcC. 18, 



9 inches ; No. 3, 3 feet 9 inches ; and No. 4, 11 feet 4 inches. 

 Above No. 4 is 8 fathoms of grey shale, in which fossil shells are 

 occasionally found; but I had great difficulty in procuring any fossils ; 

 none appear to have been kept. I succeeded in getting two bivalves 

 from this grey shale. 



There are two shafts at present constructed — one (the shallow 

 pit) entering the No. 1 seam, and the other 45 fathoms deep ; but a 

 third is being dug, which will reach the depth of 100 fathoms ; and 

 there are besides seven or eight level workings. 



It is very difficult to get labour sufficient to develop the resources 

 of the mines ; and although 600 men are on the books — Chinese, 

 Malays, Klings, &c., with European departmental superintendents, 

 only 300 are at work at a time. Eighty tons per diem are produced, 

 and conveyed down a tramway, less than a mile long, to the coaling- 

 pier ; but with more labour, I was assured by the manager that 

 they could easily produce 200 tons per diem. 



The quality of the Labuan coal is superior to that of Kelung. It 

 is a heavier, close-grained, and tolerably clean coal, very free from 

 sulphur, and forms but little clinker, in this respect having a con- 

 spicuous advantage. It burns, however, very fast, and gives out a 

 considerable heat, so much so that it is necessary to be careful that 

 the red-hot flues are protected and watched, while the flames issuing 

 from the funnel extend sometimes six or eight feet and endanger 

 the rigging. In burning it produces a large quantity of soot and 

 of imperfectly consumed fragments, which cover the ship, rendering 

 everything filthy and dirty. Still it is better than Kelung coal. 



The quality and geological relations of the Labuan coal seem to 

 point out that it, like the Kelung coal, is a recent formation — in 

 fact, a lignite. In the stiff clay roof of certain of the seams, Mr. 

 Low, of Labuan, assures me that he has found many impressions of 

 leaves, in very perfect preservation, identical with those of trees at 

 the present moment growing in the jungle. In the coal there are 

 very frequently found tears of pure Dammar resin ; and the Dammar 

 pine is still a common tree. This resin has also a remarkable ten- 

 dency to occur in veins ; and Mr. Sinclair, the manager, informed me 

 that on one occasion a mass of pure Dammar, 6 lbs. in weight, was 

 discovered. 



Both at Kelung (Formosa) and at Labuan petroleum is found in 

 the immediate vicinity of the coal- districts. In Kelung, or near, 

 there are sources of petroleum which have not yet been worked. 

 The Chinese have an idea that some parts of Eormosa are rich in 

 gold ; and undoubtedly gold has been found there. 



In Labuan, a petroleum spring exists, not far from the mines, in 

 a " nullah " or deep ravine in the jungle. A pathway through the 

 forest has been cleared to this spot, but up to the present time no 

 workings have been undertaken. Other petroleum springs are also 

 known to exist in the neighbourhood. 



The Eussians possess good coal at Possiette, situated on the coast 

 at the southern point of Eastern Siberia, and at Dui, on the island of 

 Saghalien, at the head of Castries Bsy. The latter is a convict set- 



