1913'] MON^VZITE IN ISTORTH CAROLINA 155 



shaft has been sunk to a depth of 45 feet. The rocks were de- 

 composed throughout this distance so that no blasting whatever 

 was necessary. On account of the excessive decomposition of 

 the rocks, it was difficult to determine what the rocks at this 

 particular point were. They had the appearance, however, of 

 being decomposed Cranberry granite. The section exposed by 

 the shaft showed the rocks to be more or less pegmatized and to 

 carry monazite the whole depth of the shaft. The monazite 

 seemed to occur in the pegmatized band of the rock, which, in 

 the shaft as exposed, had a width of 21/0 to 4 feet. 



The monazite, which is of a clove brown color, was found in 

 fragments of rough crystals varying from pieces the size of a 

 pea up to a large rough crystal that weighed almost exactly 60 

 pounds. 'No attempt was made at this time to determine the 

 percentage of monazite that the rock would carry. One or two 

 pans full of the monazite-bearing portion of the rock were taken 

 out, which gave nearly a pound of monazite. 



As stated above, the monazite is in the form of irregular 

 fragments, rouch crystals and cleavable masses. One of the 

 best crystals observed was a part of a mass that weighed G^/o 

 pounds, which was made up of crystals in parallel position with 

 some of the facies very perfectly developed. Another crystal, 

 which was well terminated, weighed 12 ounces. It was 2% 

 inches long in the direction of the b axis; IY2 inches in the di- 

 rection of the a axis and 21/^ inches long in the direction of the 

 c axis. The prismatic facies of the a pinacoid were well de- 

 veloped as was also the unit pyramid lu. The lower end of the 

 crystal showed no terminations. The facies observed on these 

 crystals were identified by means of the contact goniometer and 

 were as follows: a (100)'; m (Oil) ; iv (101) v (T 11). 



The basal plane c was not observed on any of the crystals but 

 was observed as one of the parting or cleavage planes. Parting 

 planes were also very prominently developed parallel to m. 



The masses of the monazite were very pure and one analysis 

 to determine the percentage of monazite in the masses shows it 

 to contain 99.5 per cent, monazite. ISTo chemical analyses have 

 been made of the mineral beyond the determination of thoria. 



