306 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



Further south and east, beyond the Niger, the Rev. J. L. Wilson found that 

 the Pangwe people, who are gradually migrating from the inland mountains 

 toward the coast near the equator, have "iron of their own," of superior 

 quality, usually in "pieces about the size, and somewhat in the shape of a 

 horse-fleam, and probably produced from lumps of native iron of nearly uni- 

 form size." At Loando, about nine degrees south, the natives of the interior 

 sell iron implements of their own manufacture for European goods, at prices 

 less than the cost of the European iron which would be required to. make 

 them. In South Africa, the Rev. Dr. Adamson, long a missionary there, in- 

 forms me, meteoric iron is abundant ; but whether it has been found to be 

 meteoric by analysis, or only presumed to be so, because all native iron has 

 hitherto proved so, I am not informed. 



The existence of native iron has often been asserted. Pallas was said to 

 have found it in Siberia, and others in South America, New Mexico, Virginia, 

 and other regions. But all these, so far as they have been analyzed, have 

 proved to be meteoric. The native iron of Liberia, therefore, is a substance 

 perfectly new to the world of science and of art. Its existence in large de- 

 posits is as probable as was that of native copper before the opening of the 

 mines on Lake Superior. Native copper had been known for ages to exist ; 

 but till the opening of those mines, it had never been found in quantities suf- 

 ficient to be of much commercial importance. Now, it is found in great abund- 

 ance, and some of it in masses so immense that the miners are troubled with 

 their vastness. Whether the native iron of Liberia exists in similar abun- 

 dance, can be determined only by an actual examination of the country. But 

 if large quantities can be found at the water's edge, or even twenty-five miles 

 inland, its commercial value must be immense. 



Native Iron of Canaan, Connecticut. In ah 1 the minerological works pub- 

 lished during the last few years, native iron has been registered as occurring 

 at Canaan, Conn. The authority for this statement rested on a single speci- 

 men preserved in the cabinet of Yale College. After the results of the exam- 

 ination of the Liberian iron by Dr. Hayes were made known, a portion of this 

 specimen was placed in his hands by Professor Silliman for examination. Dr. 

 Hayes has since shown, in the most indubitable manner, that the Canaan iron 

 is cast-iron, containing charcoal, plumbago, and other impurities. 



ON THE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF METALS AND OTHER 

 MINERAL PRODUCTS IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



From the report of Robert Hunt, keeper of the mining records of Great 

 Britain, for the year 1854, we derive the following statistics respecting the 

 production and consumption of metals and other mineral products in Great 

 Britain : 



The total quantity of tin ore raised in Cornwall and Devonshire in 1853 was 

 8,866 tons, the average value of which was about 68 per ton. The black 

 tin, or tin ore, produces on the average 65 per cent, of metallic, or white 

 tin. as it is called. The quantity of this metal of British produce brought into 

 the market, is about 6,000 tons annually. The annual importations of tin into 



