110 
“ The perpendicular thickness of these strata, including the beds 
of clay with which they are intermixed, is about seventy feet. 
There are about six of each, and are found to continue eastward, in 
an uninterrupted course, to the village of Little Bovey, a mile dis- 
tant ; and probably extend much further. The strata of coal, near 
the surface, are from eighteen inches to four feet thick; and 
are separated by beds of a brownish clay, nearly of the same 
dimensions, but diminishing in thickness downwards, in propor- 
tion as the strata of coal grow larger; and both are observed to 
be of a more compact and solid substance, in the lower beds. 
The lowermost stratum of coal is sixteen feet thick ; it lies on a 
bed of clay, under which is a sharp green sand, seventeen feet thick, 
and under that a bed of hard coarse clay, into which they have 
bored, but have found no coal. From the sand arises a spring of 
clear blue water, which the miners call mundic water ; and a water 
of the same kind, trickling through the crevices of the coal, tinges 
the outside of it with a blue cast. 
“ Beneath this was an equal, if not a greater, quantity of fossil 
wood, with that which existed in the mountain already mentioned. 
With that wood it appeared, in general, to agree pretty much in its 
nature and appearance ; it however did not seem to be accompanied 
by so much mineral salts as the other. 
“ Some small, and narrow veins of coal are found intermixed with, 
and shooting through, the beds of clay; bearing impressions, like 
those of reeds and grass ; and very similar to those which are found 
on the top of coal mines. The clay also, at least that part of it 
which lies nearest the coal, seems to partake of its nature, having 
somewhat of a laminous texture ; and being, in a small degree, in- 
flammable. Amongst this clay, but adhering to the veins of coal, 
are found lumps of a bright yellow loam, extremely light, and so 
saturated with petroleum, that they burn like sealing-wax, emitting a 
very agreeable and aromatic scent. 
