NO. 8 



SMITHSONIAN i:X I'LORATIONS. I9I3 



45 



Mitchell, it yields none of the boreal plants which make the floras of 

 the mountains of New England so interesting. The lower mountains 

 of North Carolina, and some of the other high peaks, are much more 

 interesting l)otanically than this, the loftiest of them all. 



ANCIENT MICA MINES OF NORTH CAROLINA 

 In April, 1913, W. H. Holmes, head curator of the department 

 of anthropology, visited the mica mines of western North Carolina, 

 making such observations as seemed necessary for a reasonable com- 

 prehension of the nature and extent of the ancient operations. 



Fig. 46. — Section of an aboriginal mica mine: A, General schistose for- 

 mation : B. Alica-bearins vein ; C. Old digging partly filled up : D, Ancient 

 dumps. 



Mica was in very general use among the Indian tribes east of the 

 Great Plains and was mined by them at many points in the Appalach- 

 ian highlands from (jeorgia to the St. Lawrence River. From 

 these sources it passed by trade or otherwise to remote parts of the 

 country and is found especially in burial mounds, stone graves, and 

 ordinary burials throughout the Mississippi Valley. The crystals 

 of mica are of diversified shapes and sizes, reaching in some cases 

 upwards of two feet in dimensions. They separate readily into sheets 

 of very attractive appearance, which are transparent or translucent, 

 displaying various silvery and amber hues. Mica crystals occur dis- 

 tributed through narrow veins of quartz and feldspar which extend 

 at various angles through the inclosing schistose formations. 



Although probably serving few practical purposes the sheets were 

 highlv ]^rized by the aborigines for the manufacture of personal or- 



