76 PaSCOE: GEOLOGICAL NOTES ON MESOPOTAMIA. 



Pitch and Bitumen. 



The only locality seen in which pitch and bitumen occur in 

 any appreciable quantity is Qaiyarah, where however the supply 

 is by no means unlimited (Rep. No. 4, pp. 21-22). This and the Hit 

 deposits do not make a good fuel, and moreover would probably be 

 of considerably greater value for other purposes such as : — 



(i) Caulking, and ship-building on the Arab plan. 

 (u) Use on roads. 



(Hi) Low-grade varnishes for iron-work, and japanning. 

 (iv) Use on the iron-plates of ship-bottoms to prevent elec- 

 trolytic action. 

 (v) Coating masonry. 



(vi) Acid-proof linings for chemical tanks. 

 (vii) Roofing. 



(mi) Insulating electric wires. 

 (ix) Substitute for rubber in garden hose. 

 (x) Binding for coal briquettes. 



Sulphur. 



Attention has been drawn in these reports to the supplies of 

 sulphuretted hydrogen which are available in this country. Most 

 of the occurrences are, of course, of no economic importance, 

 but two have been named as probably remunerative, viz., (i) The 

 junction of the Greater Zab with the Tigris (Report No. 7) and (ii) 

 North of Kirkuk (Report No. 9, p. 44).' No. (i) is by far the more 

 important of the two. In addition to these supplies, this gas will, 

 in all probability, be given off in large quantities from the oil of 

 shallow oil horizons, when these are tapped by boring. Any 

 simple device to collect it from the well-heads and oxidise it to free 

 sulphur, either by incomplete combustion — H 2 S+0 = H 2 0+S — or 

 by mixture with sulphur dioxide — 2H 2 S-f-S0 2 = 2H 2 0+3S — would 

 prevent the waste of a valuable product. The device would have 

 to be more or less portable and must not threaten the oil-fields 

 with fire or explosion. 



Gypsum. 



The quantity of gypsum in the country is, from a practical 

 point of view, unlimited. It is used by the Arabs for making 



