Kinahan — On Irish Metal Mining. 277 



It is not only absurd but also frivolous, to draw in them imaginary 

 boundaries, and call a part Laurentian and a part Ordovician, as 

 has been proposed. The larger portion of the Grranyte is intrusive, 

 but associated is some Metamorphic Grranyte, and a considerable 

 area of Granitic gneiss. 



Since the beginning of the present century various explorers 

 have published lists of minerals ; but, although examined by so 

 many, only a few valuable mines have been discovered. Some 

 good silver-lead was found in the Carboniferous Limestone near 

 Ballyshannon, and in Metamorphic Limestone at Killdrum, to 

 the south-westward of Dunfanaghy ; elsewhere there are not any 

 metal mines of note, although in places there are very fair- 

 looking indications. At Oarricknahorna, near Ballyshannon, there 

 is a lead lode with a " back " of iron and manganese in the Car- 

 boniferous Limestone : this was worked for the iron-ore in 1884 ; 

 and 30 tons of ore was shipped for Ballyshannon, to Mostyn, on 

 the River Dee, by Messrs. Fathem and Kidd. 



Cainstone, or pyrophyllyte, has been recorded in a great many 

 places, and the harder varieties were formerly used for archi- 

 tectural purposes, while the finer kinds have been mined and sent 

 into the market as steatyte. Thin beds of anthracyte are recorded 

 as having been found at Dromore and Kintale, on Lough Swilly ; 

 while gold is said to have been detected in a small quartz lode in 

 the stream that flows from Lough Knadas, one mile due east of 

 Ballyshannon. 



As long as the forests lasted iron was largely smelted, and the 

 remains of the bloomeries and mills are found in different places. 

 Some bog-iron, and perhaps Other native ores, were used ; but the 

 records state that large quantities of ore were imported into the 

 country from Scotland and England. At the present time there 

 is an export trade of bog-iron-ore, to be used in the process of 

 cleaning gas. 



Yery fair beryls occur in some of the exogenous Grranyte veins 

 4S.E. of Dungloe,. at Doocharry, and Slieve Snaght, barony of 

 Boylagh; while Griesecke reports having found greenish-gray jade 

 at Crohy, in the same barony- 



