the center of the flame and passes partly through it, the lower part of the mass curls inward, giving rise to the most beautiful effects gathered into graceful folds at the bottom—­a veritable pillar of fire.  There is not a particle of smoke from it.  The gas from the wells at Washington was allowed to escape through pipes which lay upon the ground.  Looking down from the roadside upon the first well we saw in the valley, there appeared to be an immense circus-ring, the verdure having been burnt and the earth baked by the flame.  The ring was quite round, as the wind had driven the flame in one direction after another, and the effect of the great golden flame lying prone upon the earth, swaying and swirling with the wind in every direction, was most startling.  The great beast Apollyon, minus the smoke, seemed to have come forth from his lair again.  The cost of piping is now estimated, at the present extremely low prices, with right of way, at L1,600 sterling per mile, so that the cost of a line to Pittsburg may be said to be about L27,000 sterling.  The cost of drilling is about L1,000, and the mode of procedure is as follows:  A derrick being first erected, a 6 inch wrought-iron pipe is driven down through the soft earth till rock is reached from 75 to 100 feet.  Large drills, weighing from 3,000 to 4,000 lb., are now brought into use; these rise and fall with a stroke of 4 to 5 feet.  The fuel to run these drills is conveyed by small pipes from adjoining wells.  An 8-inch hole having been bored to a depth of about 500 feet, a 5-5/8 inch wrought-iron pipe is put down to shut off the water.  The hole is then continued 6 inches in diameter until gas is struck, when a 4-inch pipe is put down.  From forty to sixty days are consumed in sinking the well and striking gas.  The largest well known is estimated to yield about 30,000,000 cubic feet of gas in twenty-four hours, but half of this may be considered as the product of a good well.  The pressure of gas as it issues from the mouth of the well is nearly or quite 200 lb. per square inch.  One of the gauges which I examined showed a pressure of 187 lb.  Even at works where we use the gas nine miles from the well, the pressure is 75 lb. per square inch.  At one of the wells, where it was desirable to have a supply of pure water, I found a small engine worked by the direct pressure of the gas as it came from the well; and an excellent supply of water was thus obtained from a spring in the valley.  Eleven lines of pipe now convey gas from the various wells to the manufacturing establishments in and around Pittsburg.  The largest of these for the latter part of the distance is 12 inches in diameter.  Several are of 8 inches throughout.  The lines originally laid are 6 inches in diameter.  Many of the mills have as yet no appliances for using the gas, and much of it is still wasted.  It is estimated that the iron and steel mills of the city proper require fuel equal to 166,000 bushels of coal per day; and though it is only two years since gas