On a Black Lead Mine in Inverness-shire. 97 



the leader at the head, he instantly took the command, ad- 

 vancing with confidence, and conducting the whole line in 

 perfect order. When I now interrupted their march, the 

 main body no longer exhibited their former anxiety and im- 

 patience when the leader was removed, but seemed to wait 

 with perfect composure and confidence, until the obstruction 

 was overcome, which the leader used every means and inge- 

 nuity to accomplish. It did not occur to me till I had left 

 these amusing travellers, to try the experiment of placing the 

 leader in the rear, in order to observe how he would bear the 

 degradation, and to ascertain if the head of the column would 

 have been thereby changed. 



Art. XVI. — Notice respecting the Discovery of a Black 

 Lead Mine in Inverness-shire, on the property of Glengary. 



The only mines of Black Lead which have hitherto been 

 wrought in Scotland, are those of Cumnock in Ayrshire, and 

 of Glenstrathfarrar, in the county of Inverness.* This last 

 mine was discovered so recently as 1816, but does not seem 

 to have been wrought to any extent. 



Under such circumstances, therefore, it is with great satis- 

 faction that we announce to our readers the discovery of an- 

 other black lead mine in Inverness-shire, on the property of 

 Glengary. The mine is situated near the top of a rocky ra- 

 vine, close to the head of Loch Lochy, on the south-east side, 

 and within a mile of the Caledonian Canal. The mine is so 

 situated, that an artificial trough or slide, of simple construc- 

 tion, like that one used at Alpnach in Switzerland, for tim- 

 ber, might be erected to convey the black lead ore by its own 

 force of descent from the mine to the Caledonian Canal. 



We have now before us specimens of this ore, and of the 

 rock in which it is found, taken from the surface of the rock, 

 where it is exposed to the action of the weather. The breadth 

 of the vein is in many places, where it crops out, fully three 

 feet in breadth. 



Not more than a ton or two of ore has been yet taken from 

 the mine, and that too merely gathered from the surface. ' 



* Black Lead has been found in (ilcn-Ely and Shetland. 

 VOL. II. NO. I. JAN. 1825. H 



