No. 1.] GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OP CANADA. 83 



holding marine shells, were observed to be banded by irregular 

 dark colored layers, in which the iron ore predominated. The 

 same thing was afterwards remarked by me in stratified sands at 

 much higher levels in the vicinity. Where these sands form the 

 beach, they are exposed to the action of the waves, which effect 

 a process of concentration, on a grand scale, so that, it is said, 

 after a prevalence of certain winds, great belts of nearly pure 

 black sand are exposed along the shore. At the time of my visit 

 trenches were being sunk to a depth of five feet, on the shelving- 

 beach, about half-way between high and low-water mark. The 

 sections presented alternations of nearly pure silicious sand and of 

 black iron sand, the latter in layers of from half an inch to six 

 inches in thickness, often with a small admixture of grains of red 

 garnet, which sometimes formed very thin coatings upon the sur- 

 face of the black layers. One of these latter, six inches in thick- 

 ness, was taken up by myself, and found to be very pure, as will 

 be seen from my analysis, farther on. It was easy, from these 

 trenches, by means of shovels, to remove, without much admix- 

 ture, the thicker layers of the moist black sand, which would 

 measure from one and a-half to two feet out of the five feet ex- 

 cavated. This material was piled upon the beach, and afterwards 

 carried to the washing-table. The supplies of sand-ore have 

 hitherto been obtained from the deposits of wet sand below high- 

 water level. Those at the surface, on the beach, have doubtless 

 been recently moved by the waves, but from the inspection of the 

 layers in the trenches, I was led to the opinion that they were 

 lower strata, similar to those seen above the high- water mark, and, 

 like them, of considerable antiquity. They were found to contain 

 marine shells in a crumbling and decayed condition. It is said 

 that these mixed sands of the higher levels yield, on an average, 

 by washing, about fifteen per cent, of black iron sand. When 

 this poor sand is spread upon the shore, and exposed to the action 

 of the waves and the tide, it is found to become concentrated 

 through the washing away of the silicious grains. This process 

 helps us to understand the mode in which the irregular layers of 

 rich iron sand have been formed in the midst of the deposits of 

 silicious sand, in the strata which are now above the sea-level. 



The washing of the ore at Moisie, preparatory to smelting, is 

 done upon a shaking-table, about twenty feet long and four feet 

 wide, with a sloping and somewhat concave bottom. Upon this, 

 by the aid of a gentle current of water, a large part of the lighter 

 grains, chiefly of quartz, are washed away. 



