aS age 
10 Olmated: on the Gold Mines of North Carolina. 
of ation. The rounded angles and vesicular structure 
i he y general, that the metal, 
€ Frpodpspects, the “he, 
nS convinced that thei worn and 
ounded appearance is. a to attrition, and jit 
ities are ae by the indentation 0 of san 
ue oe 
Ms 
may still eapenly be vee 
arian a moreover, which is separ, dq 
dent marks of attrition, of a limite 
round its edges and angles, but not_ suffc i to des te 
them: the fragments are not ovoidal Tike. the pebbles of 
rivers, but are still flat, retaining their original form, the 
that their edggs are dull and their angles blunted. In s hort, 
the whole appearance is such, as would ake yd result 
from so at a substance as virgin gold, bein?’ knocked 
about among such stern associates as quartz and green- 
stone. 
. Tbe appearance of fusion, suanosed to be exhibited by 
the, d bas inspired the idea al the miners that the 
li pieces which they obtain , en melted out from 
some ore that lies disguised somewhere in the vicinity. 
This idea has frequently made them the dupes of imposi- 
tion. The Mineral Rod, charms, and pose follies, have 
had their reign here, and ‘the first is still held in some esti- 
mation. The common rocks and stones of the country, 
have been tortured by a new race of alchymists, who have 
imagined them to be the ore of gold, veiling, wane some 
disguise, the characters of the precious metal. . 
degree of eagerness also pervades the couutry 0: on the. 
ject of the metals in general. The minerals thrown o 
excavatirg pits im search of gold, consist chiefly of quartz, 
greenstone, aud hornblende maxed with chlorite, and affor 
little that is interesting tc the collector of specimens. Al- 
most the only substance which I met with, that was worth 
preserving merely asa specimen, was Pyritous Copper. Of 
this 1 saw some elegant fragments. Tt occurs in a gangue 
of quartz, and resembles that fo und at Lane’s Mine at 
HO RUDB HRs Con. (Amer. Journai of Science, Vol. I. 
316 vein of it occurs in slaty clay, six miles east at 
Concaen in Cabarrus county. This ore had been sub- 
jected to numerous experiments, on account of ihe belief 
