52 QUICKSILVER DEPOSITS OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 



main line of mountains; and a similar statement is true of the traces of cin- 

 nabar found in Santo Domingo and in Nova Scotia. 



The deposits of Australia, such as they are, lie along the principal 

 mountain range of that continent, and those of New Zealand, like those of 

 the East Indies, are accompanied by evidences of disturbance marked by 

 volcanoes. 



Relations to volcanic phenomena. — In a few cascs tlio deposltiou of cinuabar 

 has been observed at the vents of volcanic emanations, viz, at Pozzuoli 

 in Italy, near Lake Omapere in New Zealand, and at localities on the 

 Pacific Slope. There are other cases in which cinnabar is immediately 

 associated with hot springs and sulphur deposits in such a way as to sug- 

 gest the former existence of liot sulphur springs of volcanic origin. Such 

 are the deposits of Guadalcazar in Mexico, the Baths of Jesus in Peru, and 

 those of Persia. Hot springs exist close to the great deposit of Huancave- 

 lica, but whether they contain sulphur I do not know. Cinnabar and na- 

 tive fpilcksilver are found in eruptive rocks a part of which are recent, in 

 melaphyre in Rhenish Bavaria, quartz porphyry at Vallalta, trachyte at Mt. 

 Amiata, trachyte or basalt in Transylvania, basalt in Persia, pitchstone por- 

 phyry in Mexico, trachyte in Peru, and, I may add, in andesite and basalt 

 in California. As has already been pointed ont, cinnabar also occurs along 

 belts marked by the presence of volcanoes, active or extinct. This is espe- 

 cially notable in Ital}-, in western Asia, New Zealand, and throughout the 

 entire American series of deposits from Alaska to Chili. 



Mineral association. — Tlio most common metalHc mineral associated with cin- 

 nabar is pvrite, and this sulphide is perhaps never entirely absent, tliougli it 

 is not mentioned in some of the descriptions. It is so common, however, 

 that were it absent in any deposit mention would probably be made of the 

 fact. Traces of copper sulphides perhaps come next in frequency, but ar- 

 senical and antimonial compounds are found abundantly in some deposits. 

 The quantity of arsenic at Huancavelica seriously interfered with the work- 

 ing of the ore, and livingstonite is an important ore in Mexico. The ore of 

 Mieres is like that of Huancavelica. ]\rr. de Chancourtois found realgar with 

 quicksilver at Pozzuoli ; Dolomieu is said to have found cinnabar and stibnite 

 on Mt. Vesuvius, but there is some doubt whether this geologist made such 



