248 Coal in Spain. 
several miles of galleries have already been cut. It is 
ready to supply a large demand, when the railways which 
are being constructed, and which are hereafter to be con- 
structed, will connect this isolated place with the principal 
trunk lines in Spain. There are other mines at Belmez 
and Espiel, owned by the “ Fusion-Carbonifera,” and other 
Spanish companies, and by private persons, but all of 
them are either for the moment abandoned, or are very 
indifferently managed ; and for their ultimate possession 
numerous and complicated lawsuits are pending. But 
thus the less coal is taken away from them in the mean- 
time ; and the only outlets for the little they put out are 
an iron foundry, several copper and lead-smelting works, 
and a few neighbouring mills worked by steam-power 
established in the vicinity. The coal cannot be conveyed 
conveniently to any great distance, as the country is 
rough and hilly, and no regular roads, which could carry 
winter traffic, have as yet been made. The price at these 
mines for coal fit for furnaces and engines is from 13s. to 
17s. per ton, but the cost of carriage to the Pechoro iron- 
works for instance (distant from Penarvoya about sixty 
miles), is upwards of 40s. per ton, its cost thus amounting 
at these works to 53s. to 57s. per ton. This high price 
naturally prevents any great consumption, and it is 
employed, owing to its good quality, only for special 
purposes. 
The strips of carboniferous formations at San Francisco 
del Monte, and at Adamaz, quite near Cordova, have 
never been properly examined or explored, as far as I 
know. The coal formation of Guadalcanal begins near 
Bafia, in Estremadura, and extends to the village of San 
Nicholas del Puerto, a distance of about sixty miles; its 
greatest breadth being about fifteen miles. This large 
coal district is scarcely known even in Spain, and has 
never been thoroughly examined by competent geological : 
surveyors. A pit here and there has been sunk, near | 
where the coal-seams protrude ; and bituminous shale and 
coal of inferior quality have been met with a few feet from 
the surface. At Fuente del Arco a small quantity of coal 
is extracted for the supply of a steam-engine established 
at a short distance. These unimportant and impotent. 
attempts at real mining do harm to the coal-fields, and ~ 
bring discredit on those of them that are worth careful 
working. , 
There are indications of coal near the River Biar, a 
