268 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull. 60 



it. The prevalence of the red color suggested at once the idea that 

 the site had been an aboriginal paint mine, and that the red and 

 yellow oxides of iron were mined and carried away to be used 

 as paint — an article of very great importance in the aboriginal 

 economy.^ 



As the charges of dynamite used by the miners broke down the 

 walls of the mine, it was observed that the deposits were of irregular 

 hardness, that certain parts of the ore body were very compact and 

 flinty, containing much quartz and often displaying the dark-bluish 

 or purplish hues characteristic of high-grade specular hematite, 

 while the larger part was so highly oxidized as to be easily broken 



Tifi.1^ Jr 





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I'lo. 137. Wall of a modern iron iiiiuu, exiJosing the aociout tuuuels. 



up. Extending through the ore body in all directions were pockets 

 and seams of soft red and yellow oxides, many of these resembling 

 travertine, and in places there were irregular openings and partially 

 filled cavities. Two of these open tunnels are shown in figure 137. 

 Our miners avouUI drill with great difficulty through the hardest ore, 

 to have the drill drop suddenly into a cavity of unknown depth. It 

 was difficult to discover just which of these openings and cavities were 



1 Two forms of iron ore were used by the aborigines ; the anhydrous sesquioxide, to 

 which the name homatite is applied, and the hydrosos(iuioxi(le known as llnionite. The 

 hematite, in its powdered form, is of a red color. The colors of limouite are less desirable, 

 being yellowish or brown, and it was not so extensively used. 



