Native Copper of Lake Superior, &c. 207 
scription of that lake adds “that upon it, we also find cop- 
per mines, the metal of which is so fine “ plenty that 
there is not a seventh part loss from the ore.” (1) In 1 
Charlevoix passed through the lakes on be way to the 
gulf of Mexico, and did not allow the mineralogy of the 
country to: escape his observation. ‘“‘ Large pieces of cop- 
per,” he says in speaking of lake Superior, “ are found in 
some places on its banks, and around some of the islands, 
which are still the objects of a superstitious worship amon 
the Indians. They look upon them with veneration as i? 
they were the presents of those gods who dwell under the 
waters; they collect their smallest fragments which they 
carefully preserve without however making any use of them. 
hey say that formerly a huge rock of this metal was to 
be seen elevated a "considershle height above the surface 
of the water, and as it has now disa pre 
that the gods have carried it elsewhere ; but there is 
reason to believe that in process of time the waves of the 
lake have covered it entirely with sand and slime ; and it is 
certain that in several places pretty large quantities of this 
metal have been discovered without being obliged to dig 
very dcop During the course of my first voyage to this 
was acquainted with one of our order Pic ie 
metal, and made candlesticks, crosses, and censers of it, for 
this copper is oftento be met with ines egies pure.” (2) 
In 1766, Capt. Carver procaeed ral pieces of native 
copper upon the shores of lake eral and about the 
sources of the Chippeway an nd st roix rivers, and pub- 
ished an account of these discoveries in his book of trayels, 
which has served to give notoriety to the existence of that 
metal in the region alluded to, without however furnishing 
any very precise information as to its locality or abundance. 
He did not, from his own account traverse the southern 
shore of the lake, but states that virgin cop 4) oS is found in 
great plenty on the Ontonagon or Copper Mine ry anc 
about other parts of lake Superior, and adds—* that he ob- 
served many of the small islands, particularly those on the 
(1) La Hontan’s voyages t ‘Canada,p, 214. 
(2) Charlevoix’s Jouraal of a voyage to North America, vol. 2. p. 45. 
