130 MIXERAf. l!E.SOrR('ES. 



-Ciaspe Peninsula, in ■wliicli tlic {'aiiailiau aslit-stos, or more pro- 

 ]ierly .speaking cluysotile, is Inuml, ilip umler the (Inlf of St. 

 Lawrence, ajipear again on tlie \ve>t cdast of Xewfoundlaiul and 

 extend many mile.s inland, proljaMy entirely across the island, 

 thongli in places, specially the gieat elevated central plateau, 

 they are capped with granite rocks, and seemingly liave disa])- 

 ])eared. Tliis entire area, extendin^L; aliout 100 miles nortli and 

 south, and the entire width of tlie island east and west, can be 

 safely called a serpentine country, and contains, according to Mi\ 

 James P. HoAvley's estimate, 5,097 srpiare miles of serpentine 

 rocks. 



"The serjientines, with the granulite dykes whicli everywhere 

 intersect them, contain ^ast deposits of minerals, and are to-day 

 nearly virgin fields, except on the immediate coast line, for the 

 prospector or miner, and certain to become, in the immediate 

 future, the seat of great mining o]ierations. 



" That the country has not long ere this taken a hrst rank as 

 a mineral producer, is due to its former isolated ]>(isiti()n, ditti- 

 culty of access, except in small sailing vessels, and other ulterior 

 causes ; Ijut now, with regular and lVe(|uent steam conununi- 

 cation, the prospector and engineer aiv forcing their way intO' 

 the country, and soon it Avill be the scene of prosperous mining 

 cam])s and a large mining industry. 



"The minerals met with are copper, whirli is found every- 

 wliere, magnetic, hematite, chiomic and spi-cnlar iron ores, coal 

 and petroleum, gold, sil\H-r and lead, nickel, iron pyriles, anti- 

 mony, marbles, gypsum, mica and asbestos. 



" The existence of asbestos in this great belt of serpentine has 

 long been known or supjjosed, and several well-known geologists, 

 in their writings, as far bark as ten and fifteen yeai's ago, have 

 predicted that it wor.ld be discovered in (piantities sutlieiently 

 large tv be of econonuc value ; but it is oidy within the past 

 three years that the attention of the miner has been turned in 

 this direction, and is now attracting much interest in the island, 



" On the eastern coast of Port-au-Port, rising cmt of the sea to- 

 a nearly vertical height of 1,800 feet, is a mountain known as 



