364 APPENDIX. 



prejudices and superstitions of the Indian tribes. [B.] It can, 

 therefore, excite little surprise that, after having been the theme 

 of speculation for more than a century, and obtained the notice 

 of several works of merit in Europe,* both the position and value 

 of these mineral beds have continued to the present times to be 

 but partially known. To ascertain more clearly their value and 

 importance to the Eepublic were objects more particularly con- 

 fided to me as a member of the expedition sent by the Indian 

 Department, in the year 1820, to traverse and explore those re- 

 gions. My report of the 6th of November of that year — a copy 

 of which, marked A, is herewith transmitted — gives the result of 

 that inquiry. After a lapse of two years, little can be added. 

 Eeflection and subsequent inquiry convince me that the facts ad- 

 vanced in that report will be corroborated by future observation. 

 No circumstance has transpired which is calculated to prove that 

 my suggestions with regard to the fertility and future importance 

 of those mines are fallacious; on the contrary, all information 

 tends to strengthen and confirm those suggestions. Specimens 

 of pure and malleable copper continue to be brought in to me 

 by the aborigines from that region, but it is not deemed necessary 

 to particularize in this place the additional localities. It will be 

 sufficient to observe, that the number of these new discoveries 

 justifies the expectations that have been created respecting the 

 metalliferous character of the region of the Ontonagon, and the 

 south shore of Lake Superior. [C] 



I shall here add the result of an accurate analysis made upon 

 a specimen of this copper at the mint of Utrecht, in the Nether- 

 lands, at the request of Mr. Eustis, minister plenipotentiary from 

 the United States, who carried samples of the American copper 

 to that country. The report of the inspector of the mint, which 

 communicates the result of this analysis, has the following remarks 

 upon the natural properties of this species of copper, and the 

 mode of its production: "From every appearance, the piece of 

 copper seems to have been taken from a mass that has undergone 

 fusion. The melting was, however, not an operation of art, but 

 a natural efiect caused by a volcanic eruption. The stream of 



* Firfe Jameson's Mineralogy, Parkes's Chemical Catechism, Phillips's Elementary 

 Introduction to Mineralogy. 



