25 



a good polish, and present pleasing varieties of 

 color. Good marbles, red, black, and various shades 

 of brown and grey, often agreeably variegated, may 

 be obtained from them in a great many places in 

 the vicinity of Montreal, but are as yet scarcely 

 known, although well suited for internal decoration. 

 Stones well fitted for flagging and paving are 

 found in places too numerous to mention, throughout 

 the province, but brick, and from its cheapness 

 wood, is still 16 a great extent used for pavements 

 in our towns. Paving-stones are however brought 

 from the state of New-York and even from Scot- 

 land, while materials probably in no way inferior 

 are to be met with in many parts of the country. 



ROOFING-SLATES. 



Slates for the roofing of 'houses have until recently 

 been very little used in Canada, but extensive quar- 

 ries in no way inferior to the best Welsh 

 slates have within the last few years been opened 

 in the Eastern Townships, on the line of the Grand 

 Trunk Railway. Plates of great size and of excellent 

 quality are here readily obtained. Similar slates are 

 found in several other parts of the same region, and 

 good roofing-slates have also been obtained on tke 

 north shore of lake Superior. 



IRON ORES. 



The ores of iron are found in very large quan- 

 tities in the Lauren tian rocks of Canada at several 

 localities on the Ottawa, along the Rideau Canal, 

 and in the vicinity of Marmora. These deposits are 

 of the magnetic species, and less frequently, of red 

 hematite, both of which are very rich ores, con- 

 taining about 70 per cent, of metal. They are similar 

 to those which yield the fine iron of Sweden, and 



