Uncords of the Geological Survey of India. 
38 
[VOL. I. 
by Cuthbert Collingwood, M. B., on the Formosa, Labuan, Siberia, and Japan eoal, which is 
printed in the Quar. Jour. Geol. Soo., London, No. 94, May 1st, 1868. 
Formosa coal district is near Kelung, in north-east corner of island. Mines, about one mile 
to east of town, on the hills bordering on Quar-se-Kau Bay, are reached by boat. Leaving the 
boat you pass a range of red sandstone hills, dipping about 16°-17° to south-east. All the 
country around Kelung is of red sandstone, the weather-worn outcrops forming the depression 
in which the coal appears to have been deposited. The workings when visited consisted of 
two small caverns at right angles to each other in the. coal-seam, which was, at outcrop, 
2.j feet thick. It rested upon a thin bed of still’ whitish clay, and was covered hy a bank of 
rubbly clay, 40 to 50 feet high. Workings were nearly on the level and of very primitive kind. 
No machinery is used, no shafts are sunk; the coal is picked out and removed in small 
baskets to boats, hy which it is conveyed to the harbour and is deposited in the coal-stores, 
where it is not in any way protected from the weather, and rapidly deteriorates. The mines 
are exclusively worked by Chinese. Coal is of recent formation, and lies over the sandstone. 
Another thin seam of indifferent coal was seen near the town of Skiddow, about the 
middle of this part of the island, ‘ over which w T as a bed of stiff clay, abounding in large 
‘ oyster-shells, seven or eight inches long, of a species (probably the recent Ostrea Canadensis), 
‘ which I have seen brought to Canton in vast numbers for the purposes of lime-making.’ 
The Kelung coal is light, burns very rapidly, and gives out a great heat, so that it 
readily sots the funnel on fire. It is extremely dirty, produces a vast number of blacks of a 
soft and soiling character; the flues get rapidly very foul, requiring frequent cleansing. It 
leaves 50 per cent, of ash : its cheapness being therefore doubtful. 
The Labuan coal-field is in a dense jungle, where the coal crops out conspicuously not 
far from the sea. The coal district is chiefly composed of a soft yellow sandstone, dipping 30° 
north by east. There are several seams of coal; the lowest is 11 feet 4 inches thick, but in 
quality this is not the best seam. The coal roof is a stiff blue clay, not fire clay. The 
highest seam is 4 feet C inches in thickness; the second 2 feet 9 inches ; the third is 3 feet 
9 inches; the ftmrth 11 feet 4 inches. Above this fourth seam there are 8 fathoms of grey 
shale in which fossil shells are occasionally found. There are two shafts, one to tho first seam, 
and the other 45 fathoms deep. A third is being put down, which will go to 100 fathoms. 
There are also 7 or 8 level workings. There is great difficulty in getting labour. Nominally 
the Company have 600 of various nations, but only 300 are at work. The present out-turn 
is 80 tons per day. This is conveyed down a tramway, less than a mile in length, to the 
coaling pier. With more labour it is said 200 tons per day could readily be raised. 
Labuan coal is better than that from Kelung, heavier, close grained, tolerably clean, 
very free from sulphur, and forms but little clinker. It burns fast, gives out much heat, 
flame3 issuing from funnel often extending 6 or 8 feet, and endangering the rigging. It 
produces a large quantity of soot, which renders everything filthy. It would seem to be 
like the Kelung coal, a lignite. Mr. Low, of Labuan, states that he has found in “ the stiff 
“ clay roof of some of the seams impressions of leaves in very perfect preservation identical 
“ with those of trees at the present moment growing in the jungle.”(?) There are in the coal 
itself frequently found tears of ‘ pure Dammar resin’, and the Dammar pine is still a common 
tree. On one occasion a mass, 6 lbs. in weight, was found. It has a remarkable tendency to 
occur in veins. 
Petroleum is found in immediate vicinity of coal districts, both at Kelung (Formosa) 
and at Labuan. The Chinese also have an idea that Formosa is rich in gold; gold has 
been found. There is a petroleum spring not far from the mines; in Labuan a pathway 
to the spot in the jungle has been cleared, but no workings have been undertaken. There are 
other springs in the neighbourhood. 
Russian coal. —This is at Possiette on the coast at south point of East Siberia, and 
atDuion the island of Saghalien, at the head of Castries Bay. The latter is a convict 
settlement; the coal is worked by the convicts, and used solely for the Russian ships of war. 
This coal is small, of excellent quality, presents longitudinally a conchoidal, and transversely 
a cubic fracture, like Welsh coal, producing a moderately dense dark brown smoke. 
Steaming qualities said to be equal to Newcastle coal, and owing to its caking qualities it 
would probably bnm very well mixed with any small Welsh coal, too small to burn by 
itself. Amount of ash, cinder, and soot 20 per cent. 
