250 Lead Mines, &c. of Hampshire County; Mass: 
ganese, containing a portion of silex. I have been told that 
it has been traced south almost across the town ; in going 
north, through the lots, it is seen scattered, for a few rods in 
width, at random, on the surface of the ground, and in stone 
walls. Hundreds of tons may be had by taking the trouble 
to collect it. The mineral is in rounded masses of various , 
sizes ; being broken they present a rose red, which, upon be- 
ing exposed to the light for a few days, fades into a pale red, 
and finally the mineral becomes black, and is covered 
with a pellicle of the black oxide of manganese. 1 
broke open one of these blocks, and by exposure to the 
weather, for a few months, it become black on the outside, 
as is universally the case with this mineral. Upon go- 
ing north two miles, we find this mineral in place, at the 
junction of the talcose and mica slates: here the rocks rise 
above the geest, and the vein is seen several feet wide, and 
fifteen or twenty rods long, until the rocks disappear again 
under the earth. At the vein the black and gray oxide are 
found in abundance, and along with them there is a small 
vein of the siliceous carbonate seen also, imbedded in the 
black oxid: the manganese at this locality contains iron, 
and, several years since, the inhabitants of the vicinity, sup- 
posing the mine to be one of iron, erected a forge to smelt 
the ore, but it yielded so little iron that the project was soon 
abandoned. The rounded masses are found lying upon the 
ground in the immediate vicinity of the vein, and also north, 
in Plainfield, in considerable quantities. This vein may be 
nothing more than the continuation of the Hawley iron mine ; 
atleast, the Hawley mine and the manganese being both found 
at the junction of the talcose and mica slates, afford strong 
reasons for this conjecture. I have said that this manganesé 
is seen at the junction of the talcose and mica slates; such is in- 
deed the fact, two miles north of Cummington meeting-house, 
but at the house the mica slate is altogether the pre- 
dominating rock ; yet upon careful examination, it is some- 
times found to possess a portion of tale with it, and I am in- 
clined to believe that the rocks, at the junction in this place, 
‘pass into one another by insensible gradations. : 
_Leveret Veins—marked 1 and 2 on the map. 
here are two metallic veins in Leyeret, both in granite. - 
The first is one mile from the ‘ 
in a ee, congregational meeting-house 
4 @ northwest direction, on the land of a Mr. Field. The 
