GALENA—CINNABAR, NEW ALMADEN, 295 
and slopes in the vicinity, which are suitable for cultivation, and there is abundance of grass 
for animals. Game of all kinds is very abundant; bears, deer, antelope, and mountain sheep 
were seen in the vicinity. 
This vein of antimony ore is of great importance and well worthy of exploration. 
LEAD. 
The ores of lead do not appear to be abundant in California, and there are no mines of it or 
veins of sufficient extent to warrant working yet known. Galena occurs as an associate of 
native gold in quartz at the Marble Springs mine in Tuolumne county. It is mingled with 
blende, and in some parts of the vein forms large bunches. This association is peculiar, and 
forms very pleasing specimens for the cabinet. The mine is in the limestone region, and it ig 
probable that other and more important localities will be found along that belt. 
Argentiferous galena occurs at the Alisal Rancho in Monterey county, associated with pyrites 
and arsenical minerals. It is said to occur in considerable quantity, and to have been worked 
more or less for several years, but with little success. 
SULPHURET OF MERCURY—CINNABAR. 
This ore of mercury is found at New Almaden, on the eastern slope of the mountains 
extending between the valley of San José and the Pacific. The works for the extraction of the 
metal are about twelve miles south of the village of San José, in one of the narrow valleys of 
the mountains, and the entrance to the mine is about one mile distant, and several hundred feet 
higher. The sulphuret (cinnabar) is the only ore which occurs at this locality, and is found 
intercalated with layers of flint and shales in a series of lenticular beds and interlaminations. 
These rocks appear to be metamorphosed strata, and they crop out on the surface at several 
places below the mine. They consist of regular beds of argillaceous shales and layers of flint 
and jaspery rock, which simulate those occurring at San Francisco near the Mission, at Fort 
Point, and Lime Point. Dykes of serpentine, apparently intrusive, are found in or near the 
mine, and trappean rocks are also found in the vicinity. 
The similarity of the strata and of the serpentine to those found near San Francisco leads me 
to consider them of the same age; and the probability that the flinty and jaspery rocks are 
the metamorphosed blue sandstone of San Francisco Bay has already been adverted to. 
It is generally supposed that this ore is in a great ‘‘bunch,’’ or ** pocket," and without any 
definite extension in one direction more than another. This, however, is not the case, as it has 
an evident prolongation; and although probably not a vein of fissure, much assistance in working 
the mine may be derived from a knowledge of its true character and the direction in which it 
extends, į 
The excavations of the mine are exceedingly irregular. They extend and ramify in all 
directions ; and the different parts are reached by means of slopes, with rude stairs cut in the 
rock, or by notched poles. The ore has been excavated wherever it was most abundant; and in 
some places pillars of it are left standing to support the roof. One mass of solid cinnabar was 
eight feet thick. The mine is free from water, and no decomposition of the ore has taken place. 
Sulphurets of iron and copper and arsenical pyrites are found in some parts of the veins, but 
