NOME XXIII. IRON HILL1. 159 



100 in breadth. The veins, which are several 

 feet and even fathoms thick, are only separated 

 by layers of schistus, and a kind of trap, which 

 are scarcely so thick. 



" The ore is of the black compact kind, much 

 affected by the magnet ; it yields 60 per cent, in 

 fusion, and affords most excellent iron. 



" There are annually extracted from this 

 mountain two millions of pounds, or about seven 

 hundred thousand quintals of ore. 



" The mountain of Keskanar has a similar Keskanar. 

 structure ; it is famous for the loadstones it has 

 produced; blocks of 40 pounds weight of it 

 have been found, which would carry two hun- 

 dred weight ; the small loadstones had in pro- 

 portion a much greater strength; some have 

 been seen which would carry twenty- five times 

 their own weight. This magnet is mixed with a 

 considerable quantity of greenish hornblende, 

 which is dispersed through it in small nests some 

 lines in diameter, and which is very glistening 

 when the stone is polished. 



" There are also loadstones in the mountain 

 of Blagodat, and one of its summits is entirely 

 composed of them, but they have a singular de- 

 fect : when they are detached from the moun- 

 tain, their poles multiply and intermingle, and 

 they become useless. 



