Ill 
“ Though the substance and quality of this coal, in its several 
strata, are much alike, and it is all indiscriminately used for the 
same purposes ; yet there is some difference in the colour, form, and 
texture of the several veins. The exterior parts, which lie nearest to 
the clay, have a greater mixture of earth, and are generally of a dark 
brown, or chocolate colour ; some of them appear like a mass of coal 
and earth mixed ; others have a laminous texture, but the laminas run 
in such oblique, waving, and undulating forms, that they bear a 
strong resemblance to the roots of trees, of which kind I have seen 
some specimens from Lough Neagh, in Ireland, which seem to be 
the same sort of fossil. 
“ There are other veins of this coal, which lie more in the centre 
of these strata, and abound most in the lowest and thickest bed, the 
substance of which is more compact and solid : these are as black, 
and almost as heavy, as pit-coal ; they do not so easily divide into 
laminas, and seem to be more strongly impregnated with bitumen : 
these are distinguished by the name of stone- coals, and the fire of 
them is more strong and lasting than that of other veins. 
But the most remarkable and curious vein, in these strata, is 
that which they call the ivood-coal, or hoard-coal, from the resem- 
blance wLich the pieces have to the grain of deal boards. It is some- 
times of a chocolate colour, and sometimes of a shining black. The 
former sort seems to be less impregnated with bitumen, is not solid 
and heavy, as the latter, and has more the appearance of wood. It 
lies in straight and even veins, and is frequently dug in pieces, of 
three or four feet long, and, with proper care, might be taken out 
of a much greater length. Other pieces of the same kind are found 
lying upon them, in all directions, but without the least inter- 
mixture of earth, and without any interstices, except some small 
crevices, by which the pieces are divided from each other, in all 
directions. When it is first dug, and moist, the thin pieces of it will 
bend like horn ; but when dry, it loses all its elasticity, and becomes 
