GEOLOGY OF CAPE BRETON.—GILPIN. 223 
Limestones.—Everywhere through the Island of Cape Breton, 
this mineral is exposed, and here as elsewhere its abundance has 
given the farmers division of the carboniferous its characteristic 
title. As distinguished from thesame mineral in the older rocks, 
it is presented as oolitic, shelly, flaggy, grannular, ete, but never 
crystallized as marble. Its color, texture and purity vary con- 
tinually, and the lime burner has little trouble in securing an 
article fit for any of his operations. In the coal measures there 
are numerous thin beds of limestone bituminous, and fossilifer- 
ous. I have seen no analysis of these beds, but it is quite pro- 
bable that some of them may hold several per cent. of phosphoric 
acid, and be suitable for cheap local fertilisers. A limestone near 
St. Peters is said to be suitable for making hydraulic cement, 
but so far it is questionable if any bed of limestone has yet been 
found in Nova Scotia maintaining a composition, indicating 
hydraulicity, ever a distance large enough to secure uniformity 
in the cement. 
At Lennox Passage a limestone has been quarried for a num- 
ber of years, and it is said to be of excellent quality. 
Silver and Lead.—The carboniferous limestones not unfre- 
quently contain grains and veinlets of Galena. Ata few points 
these indications have been decided enough to lead to explora- 
tory work. As yet, however, the Galena has not been found 
either in quantity enough to form an economic ore of lead, or 
associated with silver in amount sufficient to warrant much 
attention being paid to it. Among the localities noticed as in 
this connection may be mentioned: South-west Margaree, and 
Middle River. At Pleasant Bay, near the mouth of McKenzie 
River, Galena containing gold and silver, and associated with 
copper pyrites, occurs in calcspar veins, up to three feet in thick - 
ness, in grits, sandstone, and bituminous limestone. Near the 
Head of Lochlomond, and on Salmon River, in Cape Breton 
Co., Galena occurs in a massive limestone, and in a dark mangan- 
iferous limestone, in small grains; and in veinlets in a dark 
breccia apparently of carboniferous age. Here the cementing 
matter of the stone is calcareous. A few tons have been taken 
