212 



Ham mountain and extending through the townships of Ham, 

 Coleraine, Thetford, &c, to and beyond the Chaudiere River, in which 

 the mcst conspicuous and important masses are in Thetford and 

 Coleraine; and 3rd, an eastern area which is found in the Shiokskoek 

 range of Gaspe and of which the most eastern outcrop is in Mount Ser- 

 pentine, on the Dartmouth River, about ten miles from Gaspe Basin. 



While all serpentine rocks present certain leading features which 

 enable them to be readily recognized by anyone familiar with their 

 general aspect ; there are in the serpentine of these three areas several 

 marked peculiarities which serve to distinguish them quite easily. 

 Thus the rocks of the southern area are frequently, though not always, 

 slaty, and occur sometimes with much soapstone, or potstone, and 

 sometimes with dolomite, and have frequently a greasy smooth aspect 

 on the slaty surface. About Brompton Lake they are associated with 

 great hills of dioritic rock as well as with slate, and contain masses of 

 white garnet. Mining has been attempted at several places in these 

 rocks, more particularly for ores of copper, which has produced some 

 very fine hand samples, but in so far as yet worked, not in quantity to 

 be remunerative. Veins of asbestus are seen occasionally, but these are 

 as a rule of short fibre, either soft and pasty, or harsh and stiff, while 

 in extent they are mostly short and gashy, and do not possess the well 

 defined vein character of those seen in Thetford and vicinity. Near 

 Danville, however, in a peculiar knoll like mound of serpentine the 

 veins of asbestus are well developed, and fibre of very fine quality and 

 of suitable length for spinning is found in abundance. The occurrence 

 of this mass of serpentine, rich in asbestus, in a belt which is well 

 developed a short distance to the south, but which is there, in so far as- 

 yet prospected, almost deficient in asbestus tibre of any length, is pecu- 

 liar, and serves to indicate that, even in most unlikely places, excep- 

 tional development of conditions may give place to a favorable change 

 in the rock which may lead to the establishment of a profitable mining 

 area. 



In so far, however, as experience has determined the conditions for 

 profitable mining, the serpentine of this southern area does not yield 

 indications favorable to successful development ; and the same remark 

 will apparently apply to much of the serpentine found in the adjoining 



