8 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



Last, not least, there are the iron furnaces ; for in England, 

 happy England, coal is always found in company with iron — the 

 objects of industry with the means of employing industry ; the 

 material, and wherewith to work it up ; two of the great civilizers 

 of mankind hand in hand. Coal cannot live without iron, and 

 assuredly iron cannot get on without coal. 



I will now just sketch the outlines of this coal-field, and you can 

 follow me on the map. You see it is of a long shape, skirting the 

 sea-board from a point a little south of Alnwick, and, passing by 

 Morpeth, it swells out to its greatest width on the Tyne ; then crosses 

 the Derwentwater, runs past Durham and Bishops Auckland, till it 

 reaches the Tees, not so very far from Barnard Castle and Bokeby. 

 Here it sweeps round to the east, and gives that classic region a 

 wide berth. Scott would never have thought of laying the scene of 

 Bokeby among barges and chimneys ; and I doubt whether Bertram 

 would have proposed to swim the Tees, had it been choked with coal- 

 dust. The loves of Bedmond and Matilda, too- — well, let that pass. 



From Shields southward you will perceive that the coal-field does 

 not actually reach the sea. There is a narrow strip of Magnesian 

 Limestone runs all along the sea border, and the most familiar coal- 

 ports, Monkwearmouth, Sunderland, Hartlepool, are not on the coal. 

 However, Walls End, from which in our simplicity we think all our 

 coals come, is actually on the coal. I have been told, however, that 

 there is sometimes more Walls End (that is, brick-bats) in my coal- 

 cellar than I had ever supposed. 



I do not know if the number of coal-pits in this magnificent field 

 is accurately estimated. They employed over forty thousand men 

 some years back. The deepest pits are where you might expect 

 them — about the middle of the coal-basin, north of Durham. Some 

 of these are of great depth indeed ; one thousand six hundred or one 

 thousand eight hundred feet does not look very much on paper, but 

 if we try to measure it by means of the highest buildings we are 

 acquainted with, we shall understand its enormous depth better. In 

 i he north part of the field, three hundred to five hundred feet is 

 nearer the mark. 



I shall here recommend to anyone who wants to know more about 

 coal and coal-pits than we can tell them in this short lecture to buy 

 a little work by the Bev. F. Leifchild, called " Our Coals and Coal 

 Pits." I suppose there are very few persons who might not profit 

 by it, and few young ones who would not be merry over it. It may 

 have some errors ; what work has not ? but it is full of useful and 

 pleasantly told information. 



And now, that we may understand clearly what a coal-field is, we 

 must give a sketch of a coal-basin, such as is usually found in Britain. 

 You may turn back to vol. i., p. 188, to see another section by Prof. 

 Buckman: lu's will not, however, do for our purpose, and we shall 

 refer to the one on the opposite page now and again. 



If we were to walk along the banks of the Tyne. however, we 

 should only sec about half the basin, as far as cj for instance; the 



