8 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
Last, not least, there are the iron furnaces ; for in England, 
happy England, coal is always found in company ^-ith iron — the 
objects of industry with the means of emplopng industry ; the 
material, and wheremth to work it up ; two of the great civilizers 
of mankind hand m 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, sku-ting the 
sea-board fi'om a point a little south of Almvick, and, passing by 
Morpeth, it swells out to its gi'eatest Avidth 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 Rokeby. 
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 Redmond 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 aloug 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 
the north part of tlie field, three hundred to five limidred 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 Rev. 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. 
Tou may turn back to vol. i., p. 188, to see another section by Prof. 
Buckman : his 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 see about half the basin, as far as g for instance ; the 
