No. 1.] GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 85 



lower St. Lawrence, and collected himself the specimen from Ber- 

 simis, of which locality he has given me some interesting notes. 

 Besides the considerable accumulations of sand on the beach, he 

 observed, about three feet above high-water mark, two layers of 

 black sand, holding about 30 per cent, of magnetic ore, and 

 separated by a stratum of four inches of a gray sand containing 

 very little iron. The three layers were traced with considerable 

 regularity for 1000 feet along the shore. As we have seen, the 

 sand from the beach at Bersimis contained but 34.3 per cent, of 

 magnetic ore, and had a specific gravity of 2.81 ; the magnetic 

 portion had, however, a specific gravity of 2.99, and the non- 

 magnetic 2.77. The analyses of both of these will be found far- 

 ther on. 



A deposit of black sand, said to be equal in richness to that of 

 Moisie, is described as stretching along the coast, nearly the whole 

 distance from the Bay of Seven Islands to the mouth of the Moisie 

 River. The sand from Mingan, which is mentioned above, and 

 of which an analysis will be given farther on, is said to be from 

 the west side of the St. John Biver, at Mingan, but is described 

 as stretchins; from thence for a distance of three lea2:ues alono; the 

 coast, and as being very abundant. The deposits of sand at Na- 

 tasquan and at Kagashka are also stated to be very extensive, 

 and like Mingan, favorably situated for the loading of vessels. 



An inspection of the iron sands from the various localities above 

 mentioned, shows that they all contain, besides the ores of iron, a 

 small proportion of red garnet, and more or less of fine silicious 

 sand. The latter of the two substances it is possible to remove 

 almost entirely by careful washing of the crude ore. The use of 

 a magnet enables us to separate the black iron ore grains into a 

 magnetic portion, which is nearly pure magnetic oxyd, and a 

 non-magnetic portion, which is chiefly titanic iron, but, in the 

 specimens submitted to examination, holds a portion of silicious 

 matter, which the imperfectly washed sand still retains. In thus 

 separating the ores into two portions for analysis, the magnetic 

 grains were taken up by a magnet, the poles of which were covered 

 by thin paper, and this process was repeated until the non-mag- 

 netic grains were, as far as possible, left behind. The two portions 

 of the ore thus obtained were analyzed separately, the solvent 

 used being, in both cases, hydrochloric acid, which, as is well 

 known, dissolves magnetic oxyd of iron with great facility, and 

 with certain precautions, may be advantageously employed to 



