sandstone. A few pieces more of first-rate coal
(pockets) were taken out to-day. We had a great
disappointment to-day, as the pit was again full of
water. Impossible to say at present whether the tide
ffot in. or whether the water O * came from below. The
men I have divided into two shifts, one night and one
day.
The rock from the point this side of the Ruru River
is really a “ calcareous sandstone,” that is a quartz and
ore sandstone having a cement of carbonate of lime,
that is a very impure limestone.
The pit was sunk two and a half feet to-day. Three
shots were tried ; my machine failed twice. Why, I
don’t know. Some more coal was taken up to-day.
There is but little water and a great deal of oil coming
up, so the tide did get in last night. I t has been
showery to-day, and the monsoon is blowing strong.
The insects and the sand are a great trouble in our
little house.
v.
I went down the pit on Monday. I t is about sixteen
feet deep, and very dry. Timber is being put in. The
shale was all laid bare to-day. I t is a bed of true shale
(i.e. hardened* clay) saturated with petroleum. The
oil is coming out of the sides of the pit in streams.
The shale is about a yard wide, and is inter stratified
with the sandstone of the district, which is itself full
of oil. All the beds down the shaft dip at the same
angle as those exposed on the surface (i.e. 40° N.W.
and S.W.). The “ blower ” which we followed down
is now two or three feet up the side of the pit. I t
yields little oil now, as the oil is coming out all round
the sides; but much gas. The gas is inflammable,
burns with a slightly luminous, not smoky, flame, which
is yellow on the top and blue at the base. I t has but
little smell. I therefore conclude that it is marsh gas
(cH 4) , 0 0 2(?), CO(?), and perhaps some little oil
carried up mechanically. This gas probably comes
from a seam of coal not far distant.
Mr. Witti, in his diary, speaking of the oil, says he
went down two yards (i.e. six feet), and yet he says
that he “ cannot say on what that formation ” (i.e. the
superficial red clay) “ may rest.” Now at the place
where Mr. Witti dug his “ improvised well,” there is
about a foot thickness of soft river mud resting on
the grey (non-ferruginous) sandstone. Had Mr. Witti
sunk a hole as far as he thinks, he could not have failed
to come upon this rock. Again he says, “ in digging
we now and then came on pieces of very massive
lignite.” Now we dug down ten feet and found one
pocket of lignite ; and at fourteen feet a small “ pocket ”
of true coal; the whole weighing about one ounce.
Mr. Witti says, “ the clayey soil itself was then found
highly bituminous for a surface extent of eighty square
yards.” . . . “ Outside those eighty square yards no
bitumen could be found.” The real state of the case
is that for about 100 yards the river mud on the right-
hand bank contains indications of petroleum. This
has probably been washed by the tides from the portion
where my pit was sunk. This would not therefore
give any idea of the true outcrop of the shale, which
in reality has no outcrop at all. The soil in the shale
has found its way up through the overlying sandstone,
which has gradually become saturated. The ascent
of the petroleum has also been assisted by gas, which