1840.] 



Curhoniferous Stratum at Boypoor. 



241 



writer, Mr. Beaumont, who is of opinion that the coal vegetations grow 

 and accumulate where they are found, on the surfaces of small islands, 

 which have been subsequently submerged by the ocean. Howevei, 

 there appears to me to be no objection to the existence of both the- 

 ories, if made applicable to the different conditions under which the 

 coal-fields are found. The combination of iron, sulphur, and water in 

 the deposits at Baypoor, has evidently afforded the principal chemical 

 conditions for ligneous carbonization. 



The following are the measurements of a section of the cliff and car- 

 boniferous stratum of Baypoor in a descending order: — 



1st. 4 feet of sandy alluvial soil. 



2nd. 10 feet of loose sandstone with beds of ochreous earth. 



3rd. 20 feet of gritty sandstone, passing into gritty laterite, and 

 variegated in its lower portions with red and yellow bands. 



4lh. carboniferous stratum varying from a few inches to five feet 

 in thickness. 



5th. level of the river. 



The haste with which I was travelling prevented my examining the 

 specimens as minutely as I could have wished; but the following 

 ' results obtained by the blow-pipe will not be uninteresting. The leaves 

 and stems of plants burnt slowl}', with a faint flame of a bluish red 

 tint, emitting a smell like that of coal, and leaving a reddish and whi- 

 tish ash, the white appearing near the edges. This ash being submit- 

 ted to the reducing flame, fused partially on its edges, exhibiting points 

 of a greenish enamel, and others of a dark slag, attracted by the mag- 

 net. The black clay and shale, on the oxidizing flame, decrepitates, 

 turns grey, and emits an odour of coal more or less distinct and sulphu- 

 reous according to the predominance of earthy or carbonaceous matter 

 in the specimen selected for examination. The change of colour ex- 

 hibits the delicate fibres of plants in its structure, that were invisible 

 previous to the application of heat. In the reducing flame it fuses into a 

 light greenish grey enamel, or dark slag attracted by the magnet. The 

 fibrous, heavy, carbonized wood burnt with scarcely any flame at 

 all into a reddish cinder, giving out an odour, like that of burning 

 Goal. This finally fused, with slight gaseous extrication, into a 

 black slag, powerfully attracted by the magnet. The yellowish sul- 

 phureous cauliflower-like efflorescence, before mentioned as encrusting 

 the surface of the black shale, emitted distinct fumes of sulphur, and 

 melted in the oxidizing flame, giving out numerous gaseous bubbles, 

 into a dark cinnabar-red globule which, on being exposed to strong 



