208 APPENDIX. 



distinctly stratified ; the upper beds being very much wea- 

 ther-worn and disintegrated into large and small cubic frag- 

 ments. 



" The whole thickness of this quarzite, which immediately 

 overlies the bed of the red pipestone, is twenty-six and a half 

 feet. Its strata appear to have a small dip to the NE. The 

 floor of the valley, which is higher than the red pipestone, is 

 formed by the inferior strata of the quarzite, and, in the 

 spring of the year, is most generally under water ; the action 

 of which upon the rock is apparent in the great quantity of 

 fragments strewn over the valley, so as to render it uncom- 

 fortable to walk over them. The creek, by which the valley 

 is drained, feeds, in its course, three distinct small basins, at 

 different elevations, that penetrate down as far as the red 

 pipestone. 



" This red pipestone, not more interesting to the Indian 

 than it is to the man of science, by its unique character, 

 deserves a particular description. In the quarry of it which 

 I had opened, the thickness of the bed is one foot and a half, 

 the upper portion of which separates in thin slabs, whilst the 

 lower ones are more compact. As a mineralogical species, 

 it may be described as follows : compact ; structure, slaty ; 

 receiving a dull polish ; having a red streak ; color, blood 

 red, with dots of a fainter shade of the same color ; fracture, 

 rough ; sectile . feel somewhat greasy ; hardness not yield- 

 ing to the nail ; not scratched by selenite, but easily by cal- 

 careous spar ; specific gravity, 2.90. The acids have no 

 action upon it ; before the blow-pipe it is infusible per se, 

 but, with borax, gives a gi'cen glass. 



" According to Professor Jackson, of Boston, w^ho has 

 analysed it, and applied to it the name of catlinite, after Mr. 

 Catlin, it is composed of 



