Negritos, and condensed water has been used for drinking, but recently, fresh water was found 4 miles from Talara, and is now pumped by a windmill to that place through a 2-inch pipe line. Fresh water has also been found 5 miles from Negritos. Besides a refinery, there are at Talara, a complete case factory with filling and storage houses and a sawmill. There are two 20,000-barrel storage tanks, and there is a 40,000-barrel tank in course of construction. The chief object has hitherto been to manufacture fuel oil, for which there is a large local demand. The principal buyers are the railway companies, and they require that the oil shall have a flashing point of 270° F. For the transport of this oil along the coast, a tank steamer (the "Ewo") is employed.

The claims of the Mancora Syndicate are principally situated on the Hacienda Mancora, which extends along the coast from the valley of the Pariñas River, forming the northern boundary of the Hacienda La Mina Brea and Pariñas, to the Quebrada Secca, embracing the so-called ports of Cabo Blanco and Puerta Mancora. Two wells were drilled in 1891-92 for this syndicate at Tucillal, 2 miles inland from Zorritos. The first was abandoned as unproductive when the drill was passing through "dark loam with broken shale and slate at a depth of 826 feet, although at 324 feet, a very heavy vein of gas" was struck, and at about 500 feet, a yield of oil amounting to about 20 gallons a day was obtained. The second well was carried to a depth of 390 feet, when the break-down of the boiler caused a stoppage of the work. The first indications of oil were met with in this well at a depth of between 72 feet and 124 feet, and a larger quantity between 345 feet and 375 feet. When drilling was suspended, the well contained 75 feet of oil. A specimen of this oil examined by the author was of very dark brown colour, and had no unpleasant odour. The specific gravity was 0.940. At Siches, which lies in the centre of the Hacienda Mancora, about 6 miles from Cabo Blanco, an excavation made in a "black slate, at the base of an oil-bearing sandstone of the district," quickly became filled with a "pure green oil." Between the northern boundary of the Hacienda Mancora and the Zorritos property are Punta de Sal, Boca de Pan, and Sechurita. At La Cruz, an unproductive well was recently drilled to a depth of over 1,000 feet by the Peruvian Syndicate, and at Quebrada Heath, between Zorritos and La Cruz, the Heath Company have a well which yields some oil at a depth of 830 feet. A specimen of the surface oil from Siches, examined by the author, was dark brown in colour by transmitted light, and fluorescent. Its odour was slight and not disagreeable; its specific gravity at 60° F. was 0.920, and its flashing point (Abel test) was 122° F. It did not solidify at zero F. At 70° F. its viscosity, measured by Redwood's viscometer, was 69-41 (rape oil at 60° F. 100). A sample of crude petroleum from the Heath Company's well, also examined by the author, had a dark brown colour, with but little fluorescence. It possessed an agreeable odour, and did not solidify at zero F. Its specific gravity at 60° F. was 0-859, and its flashing point 38° F. (Abel test). Owing to the character of the "cover," the petroleum of Negritos has been better preserved

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than that of Zorritos, and contains a larger proportion of the more volatile hydrocarbons, the oil when taken from the wells frequently containing as much as 18 per cent. of benzine. On the other hand, the Negritos oil yields far less kerosene than the Zorritos oil. The pitch obtained by the evaporation or distillation of the Negritos petroleum is said to be quite tasteless and odourless. Peruvian oil appears usually to contain little or no paraffin.

The crude oil of Zorritos has been described by Mr. L. Weinstein.1 The oil examined had a specific gravity of 0.810 to 0.840, and was rich in the more volatile hydrocarbons. It yielded no solid hydrocarbons when cooled to -30° C. Its elementary composition was found to be— carbon 84.9 per cent., hydrogen 13.7 per cent., oxygen 14 per cent. The heat of combustion was 10,672 calories.

The principal obstacle in the way of the development of some portions of the Peruvian oil-fields, is the difficulty of access. The only true ports are Talara, Paita, and perhaps Islay, the others being exposed to the swell of the Pacific Ocean, which, especially at the change of the moon, is heavy. It is thought by some that Cabo Blanco might be made into a fairly good harbour. Mancora, Punta de Sal, Boca de Pan, Heath, and Zorritos are quite open to the sea, and at the last named, even sailing vessels receiving oil in cases have to be loaded by means of rafts, while they lie at anchor 1 or 2 miles out.

THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO.

Petroleum occurs in the East Indian Archipelago, in the islands of Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and Timor, and in Cebu (Philippine Islands). It is also said to have been found in the island of Batjan, and at the eastern end of the island of Ceram. The oils of Borneo and Sumatra, and of Rembang and Cheribon in Java, were examined many years ago by Von Baumhauer.2 The positions of some of the principal surface indications are shown on Fig. 14.

Java.-The petroleum industry of Java has long since acquired considerable local importance. The deposits hitherto worked lie near Sourabaya, in the north-east; but petroleum also occurs fat Toebang, Rembang, Ngawi, and Tjelatjap, and indications are met with in other places along the range of mountains extending the whole length of the island. Oil is said also to occur in the adjacent island of Madura. The oil-bearing formation is described as of Tertiary age, and has apparently been greatly dislocated by volcanic action. According to a report by the United States Consul at Batavia, the Dortsche Petroleum Company, which commenced operations in the Sourabaya district in 1888, with a capital of about $140,700, has twenty-seven productive wells in the district of Djabakkota, 4 miles from Wonokromo. The author is informed that the depth of these wells is from 250 to 800 feet. The oil is transported by a pipe-line to a refinery at Wonokromo, 5 miles from Sourabaya. The company 1 Chemiker Zeitung, 1892, xvi., 795.

2 Moniteur Scientifique, 1870, 53.

has also near the village of Gogor six oil wells, one of which is 1,850 feet in depth, and a gas well with a closed pressure of 438 pounds. The company's output of refined oil in 1893 was said to be about 40,000 cases monthly. It is now probably about 5,000,000 gallons per annum.

A concession of about 200 acres is being worked at Goenoeng Sarie by a Chinese proprietor (The Toan Lok). The wells are stated to range in depth from 175 to 600 feet, and one, only 200 feet deep, is said to yield daily 396,000 litres of oil of a density of 17° B. A recent (1894) British Consular report states that the production of petroleum in Java has not so far been much extended, but that fresh boring operations are being undertaken in Mid-Java, where new oil-bearing strata are said to have been discovered. Mr. E. Deen, to whom the author is indebted for information respecting the petroleum industry in Java, believes that this report has reference to drilling at Rembang and Ngawi. A specimen of Java crude petroleum examined by the author, contained a large proportion of solid hydrocarbons, and would probably yield as much as 5 per cent. of paraffin of good melting point, though it bore exposure to a temperature of zero F. without losing its fluidity. The specific gravity of the oil was 0.880, and its flashing point 90° F. (Abel test). The oil was of dark brown colour, with characteristic fluorescence, and had a somewhat pleasant odour.

Sumatra.-There are several localities in Sumatra where petroleum has been found, but the attention of producers has hitherto been mainly directed to the deposits in the State of Langkat, at the northern end of the island, opposite to the Straits of Malacca, and in this district, concessions extending over an area of about 320 square miles have been granted to Dutch and English capitalists. This oilfield was, according to Mr. Warren, first explored in 1885, but as far back as the seventeenth century, entries relating to Sumatra petroleum occur in ships' logbooks. Mr. Warren has observed an oil film on the surface of the sea, miles out from land. At Telaga Toengal and Telaga Tiga, several wells have recently been completed by American drillers for the Royal (Dutch) Company, whose concession has an area of 876 acres, and two of these were found by Mr. Warren in January, 1893, to be producing between 400 and 500 barrels a day of oil of specific gravity 0-765. One of the wells was 370 feet in depth. Wells had previously been drilled in this neighbourhood by the Netherlands Indian Government, and these were still yielding oil. The Royal Company's refinery is at Balbalan, about 6 miles from the wells. The burning oil obtained is water white in colour, of specific gravity 0.787, and flashing point 87° F. (Abel test). This Company now manufactures about 12,000,000 gallons of kerosene per annum, and as the crude petroleum yields about 50 per cent. of the refined oil, double this quantity of crude petroleum must have been produced. There is a pipe-line, besides railway communication, between the wells and the refinery. On some adjoining concessions, a considerable amount of prospecting has been carried out by Mr. Warren, who has obligingly furnished the author with the following particulars.