1865.] PERLEY — GOLD MINING IN NOVA SCOTIA. 203 



of the anticlinal; while at Oldham, which is on the fifth axis, the 

 veins are found dipping both to the north and south, which leads 

 to the belief they lie on either side of the axis. 



The rock most noticed in the mining districts is the quartzite — 

 commonly called ' whin ' by the miners. It is a strong compact 

 rock of a grey color, consisting of finely granular quartz. It is 

 supposed to be of immense thickness, for, according to Mr. Campbell, 

 where it lies exposed to view in the cuttings of the railway from 

 Halifax to Truro, and where measurements were made, it was 

 found to be over one mile in depth. 



The slate-rock which usually accompanies all the gold-bearing 

 quartz-veins, is generally argillaceous; and, according to the 

 authority of Prof. B. Silliman, not an example of talcose slate 

 appears. His examinations only extended to the eastern portion 

 of the Province, and if it does exist, it seems to have escaped his 

 notice. Mr. Poole, who reported to the Provincial Government in 

 1862, on an examination which he made of the metamorphic dis- 

 trict west of Halifax, states that he found talcose state at La Have 

 River and Ritchie's Cove, and talcose slate with pyrites in quartz 

 at the Cream Pots. Near Cranberry Head, in the county of 

 Yarmouth, chloritic slate exists ; pure chlorite, and quartz intimately 

 coated with minute crystals of chlorite, are found abundantly at 

 Tangier. The slates are generally found forming the lower or foot 

 wall of the quartz-veins, whilst the hanging or upper wall is 

 usually quartzite. In some instances both walls are of slate ; 

 but that both are of quartzite is of very rare occurrence. Some- 

 times it is found that a vein is split into two, by a third and narrow 

 vein, having thin walls or partings of slate. 



The associated minerals found are zinc, blende, iron pyrites, 

 mispickel or arsenical pyrites, galena, and the yellow sulphuret of 

 copper. 



Both iron pyrites and mispickel are found in the quartz-slates 

 and quartzite indifferently ; and with the mispickel, gold is almost 

 invariably associated, particularly at Montague, where large quan- 

 tities of this mineral are found, in which gold may be plainly 

 observed; indeed a lump can hardly be broken up without exposing 

 to view particles of gold. Galena is found in small quantities, and 

 some specimens have gold in admixture with it. Blende is found 

 intimately mixed with the quartz, and sometimes lying on the 

 quartzite at its junction with the quartz. Its presence is accepted 

 as a good sign by the miners. The pyrites is often found 



