xxxii INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



" am very certain, that if a proper process were adopted, it would 

 " afford a satisfactory result — that ore is contained in the pit we 

 " are now employed at/' 



20th November, 1810. " Some of the accompanying stones 

 " are the most curious we have yet arrived at in digging the pit : 

 *' they afford strong indications of metal." * 



" I have also sent some of the plaster of Paris which is found 

 " near Prosperous Bay. Of this a large quantity might easily be 

 " procured, as it is dug up from the rocks, not more than a foot 

 " from the surface. It is very easily reduced to a powder, and 

 " makes a beautiful shining white, when properly laid on as a 

 " wash, and a still more beautiful plaster." I 



These minutiae relative to this spot, which is so very singular in 

 its productions, and so widely different from every other part of the 

 island, cannot fail, I should hope, to be acceptable to the mine- 

 ralogist. He may possibly discover among them some traits by 

 which he may judge of the probability of success in obtaining a 

 valuable ore, by further perseverance ; at all events. Captain 

 Pritchard's observations are calculated to render more complete 

 the attempt I have undertaken to explain, in as concise a manner 

 as the subject would admit, the natural productions and the most 

 striking features of this island. 



I am not aware of having omitted any important fact connect- 

 ed with the geology or mineralogy of the island ; but, if more 

 particular information should be desired by those who take de- 

 light in philosophic investigations, I beg to recommend to their 



* In one of these stones I observed a small piece of metal, which had the appearance 

 of silver or tin ; many of them had a metallic tint, probably what the two Spaniards 

 termed " the spume of metal, or the mineral fumes condensed in the upper crust." 



t Specimens of calcareous spar, plaister of Paris, &c. were sent to the Court of Direc- 

 tors in December 1810. 



