4 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY 



in the County of Beauce ; St. Giles, in Lotbiniere County ; and Leeds, 

 in Megaiitic (Nutbrown's location), kc. The gold is distributed very 

 irregularly throughout the veinstone, some samples yielding upwards 

 of $100 per ton, and others nothing, or a mere trace (See a valuable 

 Report by A. Michel and Dr. T. Sterry Hunt : Geological Survey 

 of Canada, 1866). 



In the older Lauren tian area of Hastings and adjoining district, in 

 Ontario, the gold occurs only in quartz or quartzo-dolomitic veins 

 or bands in gneissoid strata. Most of these bands carry auriferous 

 mispickel and pyrites, the so-called " free gold " being comparatively 

 rare ; but in certain localities, as at the Richardson and some other 

 mines in the immediate vicinity of Eldorado in Madoc, in the 2nd 

 and 9th concessions of Marmora, and in parts of Elzevir, some rich 

 shews have been obtained. Up to the present time, however, gold- 

 ruining in this region has met with but very partial success. 



The presence of g)ld in Arsenical and Iron Pyrites, Blende, &c., 

 will be referred to in the descriptions of these minerals. Auriferous 

 -varieties occur more esepcially in Hastings, and in veins on the north- 

 west shore of Lake Superior, as well as in the Eastern Townships. 

 Samples of Copper and Iron Pyrites mixed with much rock-matter, 

 from the Lake Superior region, yielded the writer amounts of gold 

 corresponding to nearly an ounce troy in the ton of 2,000 Ibs. ; and 

 some rich samples of crystalline mispickel from Marmora held nearly 

 seven ounces per ton. 



4. Native Platinum : Tin-white or greyish- white. In small loose 

 grains or scales. Sp. gr. 16 20. Infusible. Insoluble in nitric 

 acid. Occurs very sparingly with native gold in the sands of the 

 Riviere du Loup, and in some of the other iron-sands of the Eastern 

 Townships, Province of Quebec, accompanied in places by steel-grey 

 grains of Irid-Osmium. 



5. Native Silver : Metallic- white, but usually with dark surface- 

 tarnish. Regular in crystallization, but found chiefly in small granu- 

 lar, leafy, or filiform masses, usually imbedded in quartz or calcspar. 

 Malleable. H = 2.5 3.0 ; sp. gr. 10 -- - 11. BB, easily fusible, 

 but not otherwise altered. Readily dissolved by nitric acid. A white 

 curdy precipitate of chloride of silver, is thrown down from the solu- 

 tion by hydrochloric acid, or solution of any chloride, as common 

 salt. The precipitate blackens on exposure to light, and is readily 



