258 



Retrospect of Borings in Carey Valley. 



Name of Mine, Level, or Shaft. 



Sandstone. 



Shale. 



Coal. 



Total. 



Mr. Brough's, No. 1, Drumahitt, . . 



„ „ 2, Eglish, . . . 



,, ,, 3, Barnish, . . . 



,, ,, 4, Drimadoon, 

 Mr. Dunsmore's, „ 1, Brackney, . . 



jj « 2, „ . . 



?» j» 4, ,, . 



Carey Valley, average, .... 

 Murlogh Bay section, .... 

 Ballycastle, coast section, . . . 



ft. in. 

 16 11 

 13 9 

 28 0 



8 5 

 1 0 



9 11 



12 8 



ft. in. 



57 6 

 75 10 

 69 3 

 81 10 



58 11 

 120 6 



75 9 

 31 11 



ft. in. 

 0 1 



5 5 



0 4 

 J 9 



6 2 

 5 5 

 2 8 



1 7 



ft. in. 

 74 6 

 95 0 

 97 7 

 92 0 

 66 1 

 135 10 

 78 5 

 46 2 



82 8 



571 6 



23 5 



685 7 



10 4 

 160 0 

 251 0 



» 



71 5 

 98 6 

 64 0 



2 11 



9 0 

 7 6 



85 8 

 267 6 

 322 6 



By inspection of this table, it is seen that in the 



Carey Yalley section Sandstone is to shale = 1 to 7. 

 In Murlogh Bay Sandstone is to shale =8:5. 

 In Ballycastle Sandstone is to shale = 4 : 1 . 



It appears that where sandstone prevails in the coal-measures there 

 is the greater chance of a good colliery ; and that the beds are thin and 

 scarce where shale is prevalent, as in Carey Valley. The same observation 

 applies to the Monkland district, near Carluke, Lanarkshire, Scotland. 



Ballycastle has not as much coal in the amount of the section as 

 Murlogh Bay ; but one bed, four feet thick, was a profitable colliery, 

 and that in a convenient place. This is thought to be all worked out now 

 above sea level ; and unless by boring below the level of the sea on the 

 shore a good bed shouldbe still discovered, which might be the case, there 

 can be little hope of any more coal being worked profitably at this place. 



Murlogh Bay, with two beds of good bituminous coal, two feet six 

 inches thick each, would be a good colliery in another place. There is 

 no shipping place, however, and five miles land carriage to Ballycastle 

 would add 5s. a ton to the cost. Still this colliery might be worked to 

 advantage, by cutting a good road from the top, along the side of the 

 cliff, down as far as the mouth of one or more adits, to be driven into 

 the coal beds, and working the colliery by such adits, as in the old 

 Gobb mine. By means of this road the coals could be carried to Bally- 

 castle to sell. Probably half of them would be carried away from the 

 mine by the people of the country. Such a road could be made for a 

 few hundred pounds. 



Any man who knows a mine is doing good service to posterity by 

 publishing an account cf the excavations made in that mine. When at 

 Ballycastle last August (1858), I saw at Mr. Boyd's an old map, made 

 by James Williamson, in 1784. On this map was laid down, and num- 

 bered, apparently with great care, the position of every shaft and 

 every adit in the colliery. There was also a table of reference, giving 



