280 PETROL. 



of Merida and Coro, and especially in that 

 of Maracaybo, where it is used for paying 

 the ships which navigate the lake. Mexico : 

 in the interior, bubbling up to the surface 

 of freshwater-lakes. In Texas, within 100 

 miles of Houston, there are springs of Pe- 

 troleum, which in the summer months con- 

 tinually boil up from the bottom, near the 

 centre of a small lake about a quarter of 

 a mile in circumference. The Petroleum 

 hardens on exposure, and becomes converted 

 into Bitumen or Asphaltum. 



In Canada there are springs on the River 

 Thames, near its right bank. The Petro- 

 leum is frequently collected on cloths from 

 off the surface of the water, and is very gene- 

 rally used in the neighbourhood as a remedy 

 for cuts and cutaneous diseases in horses. 



There are numerous Petroleum-wells in 

 Burmah. 



The principal wells are situated about 

 three miles from the town of Ye-nan-gyoung 

 (^Fetid -water -rivulet, from the Petroleum 

 ^vhich is so called in Burmese), upon a 

 plateau or irregular table-land, with a 

 gently rising surface, forming a sort of 

 peninsula among the ravines. The wells are 

 frequent along its upper surface, and on the 

 sides and spurs of the ravines which bound 

 it on the north and south-east. They 

 are said to be about 100 in number, but of 

 these some are exhausted or not worked. 

 The depth of the wells appears to vary 

 ia tolerable proportion with the height of 

 the mouth of the well above the river-level. 

 "Those measured by Prof. Oldham were 180, 

 190, and 270 feet in depth to the oil, and 

 one was said to be 306 feet deep. The 

 area in which the wells stand, does not 

 seem to exceed half a square mile. They 

 are in some places pretty close together ; less, 

 that is, than a hundred feet apart. They 

 are all exactly alike ; rectangular orifices 

 about 4^ X 3g feet, lined with horizontal 

 timbers the whole way down. The oil ap- 

 pears to be found in a stratum of impure 

 Lignite, Avith a good deal of sulphur. In 

 one of the valleys, a stratum of this was 

 seen cropping out, with the oil oozing out 

 between the laminas. There is another 

 group of oil wells about a mile to the south 

 of those just described. 



The northern group contains about eighty 

 wells now yielding oil : the southern group 

 about fifty,* which yield an inferior kind of 

 oil mixed with water. The yield of the 

 wells varies greatly. Some afford no more 

 than five or six viss, while others give 700, 

 1000, and even it is said 1500 daily. The 

 average in the northern group seems to be 



PETUNTZE. 



about 220 viss — in the southern 40 viss 

 (viss = o-6516 lbs. avoirdupois) daily: or 

 6,424,000 viss annually in the north group, 

 and 730,000 in the south : making a total 

 quantity of 7,154,000 viss, equal to about 

 11,690 tons. 



Generally the supply from a well deterio- 

 rates the longer it is worked, and, if it be 

 allowed to lie fallow for a time, it is said 

 that the yield is found to be diminished on 

 the recommencement of work. The oil is 

 described by the people as gushing like a 

 fountain from openings in the earth. It 

 accumulates in the well during the afternoon 

 and night, and is drawn off in the morning. 

 The oil is conveyed to the riyer-side in carts 

 loaded with earthen pots, containing ten viss 

 each. Purchasers generally buy at the river 

 side. The ordinary price used to be one 

 takal the lOOlbs. or about 16s. a ton. Lately, 

 in consequence of the demand from Rangoon, 

 it has risen to about 35s. per ton. 



The oil looks like thin treacle of a green- 

 ish colour, and the smell is not unpleasant 

 in the open air and in moderate strength. 

 The Petroleum from the pits is very gene- 

 rally used as a lamp-oil all over Burmah. 

 It is also used largely on the woodwork and 

 planking of houses, as a preservative from 

 insects, and for several minor purposes ; as a 

 liniment, and even as a medicine taken in- 

 ternally. The Chinese geography, trans- 

 lated inThevenot's "Voyages curieux,^' says 

 that it is a sovereign remedy for the itch, 

 which its sulphureous affinities renderhighly 

 probable. There is now a considerable ex- 

 port of the article from Rangoon to England. 

 Paraffine is obtained from it, which is used 

 in the manufacture of candles; also Bel- 

 montine and Sherwodole, which are used for 

 burning — and a heavier fluid employed as a 

 lubricating oil. It has been sold in the 

 London markets at from £40 to £45 a ton. 



(See " iSTarrative of Mission to Court of 

 Ava, inl855, by Captain Henry Yule," p. 23.) 

 See Naphtha. 



Name. From -rir^ov, a roch, and oleum, oil. 

 Brit. Mus., Case 60. 



Petrosilex. Compact impure Felspar, 

 often resembling Jasper in appearance, but 

 distinguishable from it by being fusible BB. 

 S.G. 2-6 to 2-66. 



Petrosilex Resinite, Haiiy. See Pitch- 

 stone. 



Petuntze or Peh-tun-tsz. A quartz- 

 ose felspathic rock, consisting largely of 

 Quartz. It is used in China, when mixed 

 with Kaolin, in the manufacture of por- 

 celain. 



