142 Note on the Strata of Coal in Wddi Ataba. [No. 2. 



limestone; — one foot of marl, with pistachio green spots ; — one foot of 

 white psammitic sandstone ; — one foot of black clay with impressions, 

 and bituminized plants ; — four feet of schistose black clay, with impres- 

 sions, and large nodules, or cakes, of argillaceous dolomite of a grey 

 colour ;— one foot of green psammite with bivalves, belonging to the 

 genus terebratula (?) 



The foregoing beds carry us down to about 223 ft. below the surface. 



To them succeed grey clays with impressions, alternating with layers 

 of a friable dolomite, in which small nodules of galena are perceptible ; 

 — one foot of a compact, grey limestone resembling muschelkalk ; — two 

 feet of very fine-grained psammite ; — three feet of a schistose black 

 clay with impressions of plants which descend down to 236 ft. being 

 divided by pure, fine, greyish tablets of clay. 



One foot of black, bituminous slate, — with impressions much carbo- 

 nized, covers a bed of lignite coal one foot thick, formed of the large 

 stems of Palm, of the genus Cicas, of furze, and other plants in con- 

 fused masses. 



The whole of this vegetable matter is impregnated with iron pyrites : 

 under it lies one foot of clay slate similar to that which covers it ; — two 

 feet of argillaceous blackish grey slate — containing few impressions, 

 and large nodules of iron pyrites in groups ; — two feet of grey, argilla- 

 ceous psammite. 



A sandy, grey, slaty clay, containing large cakes of a yellowish 

 spongy dolomite, in which are seen small globules of galena, and pyri- 

 tous iron, extend down to 259^ ft., when there is an undulating series 

 of depositions of a very black, splendid, compact, bituminous lignite 

 devoid of pyrites — leaving ashes of a greyish white colour after com- 

 bustion. Below it is a white, compact psammitic sandstone, in which 

 the shaft terminates. 



The total depth of the excavation, calculating from the surface of 

 the alluvium, is 270 feet. 



The depth of the inclined plane, ., , 24 Feet. 



2nd stage in the shaft, 81 



3rd do. do., 75 



4th do. do., 75 



5th do. do. lined with wood-work, * 15 



Total depth, 270 feet. 



