314 



MR MILNE ON THE MID-LOTHIAN AND EAST-LOTHIAN COAL-FIELDS. 



which there are many in this district, and in consequence of which the strata be- 

 ing shattered along a particular line, would be the more easily carried away. On 

 asking Mr Grieve whether any levels or mines had been run under this supposed 

 river course, and whether any shps had been met with under or near it, he re- 

 plied that the coal had been worked under it, and that no slips occurred there. 

 He stated in addition, that the coal had, in one or two places, been worked up 

 to the sides of the excavation, and where it suddenly ended. 



There are several other places where analogous phenomena occur ; and as 

 they are extremely curious, I may be pardoned for describing them. 



At Bryants (the property of the Marquis of Lothian), the annexed figure 

 represents an excavation in the rocks ; — A is a shp which throws do^vn the rough 

 coal RR about 12 fathoms to the NE. B is a slip which throws up the metals so 

 high, that the parrot or North Greens coal P is brought near the surface, where 

 it is worked by the pit C. A level. No. 5 in the above figure, was driven through 

 the slip A from the rough coal R, which fiirst ^'ent through clay containing angu- 

 lar fragments of sandstone. No. 1 in the figure ; it then went through another 

 bed of clay containing nothing but rounded blocks of whinstone. No. 2 in the 

 figure ; and lastly, it entered a bed of sand and mud. No. 3, which choked the 

 level, and caused the farther prosecution of it to be abandoned. The depth of 

 this hollow or excavation from the adjoining surface of the rocks is about 90 feet ; 

 the width of it is 200 yai'ds. It appears to run in a direction W.NW. and E.SE. 

 How far it extends in that direction, has not yet been ascertained. A bed of gravel. 

 No. 4, was found immediately beneath the surface. Bryants colliery, where these 

 appearances occur, is situated about 380 feet above the sea.* 



At Barleydean, between Carrington and Rosewell, there is a narrow valley, in 

 the centre of which the engine-pit is situated. The width of the valley when 

 measured along the surface of the ground, is 227 feet at the engine-pit, and its 

 sides rise to a height of about 60 feet above the mouth of the pit. The rocks in 



* Mr Gibson, the coal overseer of the Marquis of Lothian, who communicated to me the above 

 facts, states, that many more particulars regarding his " gasK^ or excavation, as he calls it, will be as- 

 certained in the course of a short time, after a mine now driving has been completed. 



