a 2H = 
The Turf or Boghead deposits of Maraht’ 
In the state of Bahia and about 100 kilometers southward from 
the city of Bahia, ist the port and village of Marahu. 
Here and at many other localities in that region occur large 
deposits of a kind of Turf or bituminous shale of very light spe- 
cific gravity, known as Boghead, It has been studied and described 
by Dr. L. F. Gonzaga de Campos in a report (*) published in No- 
vember, 1902. 
An English Company once expended many hundreds of thous- 
ands of pounds in the erection of a large plant at Marahu for the 
manufacture of the Boghead into oil, candles, paraffine, etc. 
The enterprise, however, could not compete with the much 
cheaper products obtained from petroleum, and the factory has long 
been abandoned. 
The bituminous material where exposed at the surface, has a 
ligth brown or dark gray color, and it will readily float upon 
water. 
In borings below the weathered surface, the color is darker, 
and it contains more carbon. Fossil plants of a Tertiary aspect 
occur in the shales, and Dr. Gonzaga de Campos, who made a very 
careful study of the materlal, and has so fully described the same 
assigns it to the Tertiary deposits. 
Two specimens of this material were analyzed by Prof. B. H. 
Hite, who reports the chemical composition as ,ollows: 
PROXIMATE 
Moisture. . . . . . . . 10.31 17.19 
Volatile matter. . . . . . 48.51 43,47 
Fixed carbon. . . . . « - 24.90 8.70 
ASD). os oa a Se 16.28 30.64 
100.00 100.00 
Sulpnur su: oe) ces So ww Oe 1.1% 0.78 
Phosphorus . «= « « * « «= ©,020 0,024 
(*) Reconhecimento geologieo e estudo das substancias bituminosas ua bacia do 
vio Marahu, Estado da Bahia, por Gonzaga Campos, 
5569 3t 
