THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE.
The coal of Turkey is principally in Asia Minor, but partly in Europe, and lies along the shores of Marmora and the Black Sea, and is distributed over a range of 180 miles along these seas and the Archipelago.
It appears to have a wide distribution in this part of the Turkish Empire. The localities where it is found are at Amastra and Erekli, ou the Black Sea, Vivan, on the Sea of Marmora, Scala Nova, on the Archi pelago, about forty miles from Smyrna, and Rodosto, in Roumelia.
The constituents of this coal, as analyzed by Prof. Hitchcock and others, are Black Sea. Marmora. Gaseous matter 31.80 52.00 48.00 Fixed carbon 62.40 40.50 47.00 Ashes 5.80 7.50 5.00 The coal of the Black Sea appears to belong to the true coal formation of the Carboniferous era. It rests on the millstone grit, which is supported by the limestone. The coal of Roumelia and Marmora, however, has been pronounced inferior, and either belong to a later formation or exist on the outskirts of the true coals. The region is much disturbed and irregular; the dip—varying from 20° to perpendicular—is sometimes even inverted and crushed,—the effects of crust-movements subsequent to the coal formation.
The coal of Erekli and vicinity, on the Black Sea, is mined to a con siderable extent under English management. Some five or six seams of
coal have been developed, ranging from five to twelve feet thick; but others are known to exist, and one twenty feet thick has been discovered. These mines—the Cosloo mines, near Erekli—produced in 1854 about 20,000 tons per annum, principally for the use of the combined English and French fleets then operating in the Black Sea. Preparations were being made to produce 100,000 tons per annum. The cost was estimated at about six dollars per ton on board.
There is a singular circumstance existing in connection with the coals of Alijasah,—about eight miles from Erekli,—where several seams, from four to five feet thick, exist. The rocks in the vicinity of these seams are disrupted or broken, and large fissures are filled with asphaltum, or bitu minous coal, apparently of a later date than the coals with which it is found, the result, undoubtedly, of the subterranean carbon oils becoming solidified in those cracks.
Specimens of twenty varieties of Turkish coal were received at the Great English Exhibition. Some of these came from other localities than those named, and among others we may mention Moldavia, Monastr, Mount Lebanon, and Tripoli.