Mineralogy and Geology of Nova Scotia. 305 
tains extending from Minas Basin to the Basin of Annapolis, there 
occur very extensive beds of argillaceous iron ore. These are 
about two feet thick, consisting of concretions known usual- 
ly as “shot ore.” Itis of a spongy, or vesicular appearance, and 
presents, to a great extent, the resinous lustre exhibited by the 
best varieties of bog ore. But, in some places, it is intermixed 
with the earthy phosphate of iron, or the substance to which 
Bergman attributed the cold short quality of the metal in its mal- 
leable state. It is however proved inadequate to explain the cold 
short quality of iron, not only from the impossibility of the acid 
escaping decomposition in the smelting-furnace and refinery, 
but also from the fact that ores containing no phosphorus are as 
liable as any to yield a metal of this quality. 
Leaving Nictau and the dyke of porphyry, the great bed of 
ore of the South mountain does not appear again, so far as the 
forest has been examined, until we reach the vicinity of Clement’s, 
a distance of thirty miles. But the evidence of its intermediate 
continuity is such as to leave but little doubt on this point; for, in 
the bed of almost every brook or rivulet descending from the 
mountains, are to be found, to a greater or less extent, fragments 
of this ore, which contain the usual marine impressions, and which, 
at some time or other, must have been detached from the main 
body. Should the spirit of competition among iron manufactur- 
ers in Nova Scotia ever equal that which characterizes some 
quarters of the United States, it is believed that no part of this 
range will long remain unexplored, or fail to produce abundantly 
that article, on which depend so many other arts and manufac- 
tures. 
Before alluding, particularly, to the iron mine at Clement’s, 
we will offer some remarks on the granite formation of this country, 
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