04

COAL.

hundred localities in Hindostan , the best being that of the Narbudda and Burdwan districts,and the regions above Sylhet. No mines have yet been opened,—at all events none of suf-ficient importance to cause these districts to rank as coal-producing countries. In processof time, if coal really exist in the various districts to which its presence has been assigned,steam navigation must force them into work. In Bengal it appears that mining has beensufficiently carried on to render the existence of workable coal pretty certain.

China, if we look very far into the future, will unquestionably become a coal-producingcountry. We have evidence that, amongst other varieties, there exists tertiary or browncoal, bituminous coal of various kinds, cannel coal, and anthracite, all of which have for agesbeen in common use in that remarkable country.

A contributor to the ‘ Edinburgh Philosophical Journal’ furnishes some details wherebywe ascertain that, if the Chinese are not manufacturers of gas, they are nevertheless gasconsumers on a large scale, and were so many ages before the knowledge of its applicationwas acquired by Europeans. The process is the following:—Beds of coal, though at a greatdepth, are frequently pierced by the borers for salt-water {brine), and from the w r ells thusmade the inflammable gas ascends. It sometimes appears as a jet of fire from twenty tothirty feet high; and in the neighbourhood of Thsee-Lieon-Teing the salt-works were for-merly both heated and lighted by its means. Bamboo-pipes convey the gas from the springto the place where it is intended to be consumed. These tubes are terminated by othertubes of pipeclay, to prevent their being burnt, and a single well heats more than threehundred kettles. The fire thus obtained is said to be so exceedingly brisk that the caldronsare rendered useless in a few' months. For the purposes of illumination, other bamboo-tubes conduct the gas into the streets, and large apartments and kitchens; so that by a pro-cess of nature the inhabitants of these localities enjoy most of the benefits of an ordinary gas-manufactory.

Australia is abundantly supplied with other valuable mineral products besides gold. Inthe colony of New South Wales there is a Newcastle, which awakens the same associationsas are connected with our Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It is situated on the Hunter river,and is the shipping port for the coal wfith which that and the whole of the surround-ing country abounds. The coal is bituminous, and of tolerably good quality. It is not sohard, nor is its fracture so brilliant, as some of the best kinds of English Newcastle coal.In 1857 excellent coal w r as found near to Wollongong, an improving town about forty milessouth of Sydney, in the Illawara district, and not far from the coast. We have beforenoticed the discovery within the present year, at eighty miles from Sydney, of a seam of richcannel coal, excellently adapted to gas making, and which may exercise great influence ongas-lighting in Australia, the East Indies, and South America.

In Western Australia, Dr. Von Saumer reports that coal has been discovered under mostfavourable circumstances, and which will be easily worked whenever the necessity for itshall arise.

In Tasmania (Van Diemen’s Land), there are extensive beds of coal, particularly near PortArthur, and along the eastern division of the island.

Coal is plentiful in several parts of New Zealand, although it has been worked only at