114 



PRODUCTIONS OF THE OTTAWA. 



digious sources should be found in any country but their own, 

 and the public in general, without taking into consideration the 

 question of its present application to profitable uses, seemed to 

 regard the great beds of Magnetic Oxide, as national Magazines, 

 in which was stored up a vast amount of a material indispensable 

 to the comfort and progress of mankind, which it is always satis- 

 factory to the inhabitants of a country to know is within their 

 reach and control, should circumstances arise to render its appli- 

 cation expedient or necessary." — [Vide report for 1851 and 1852, 

 pp 45 and 46. 



PLUMBAGO. 



Graphite, commonly called Black-lead. 

 Plumbago is found in various parts of the world, in detached 

 rounded lumps, and in veins of mica slate, Gneiss, and in transi- 

 tion rocks, and although called black-lead, there is not one atom 

 of lead in its composition, it being a carburet of iron. It is found 

 of the best quality in a mountain called Borrowdale, in Cumber- 

 land. The mine has been worked since the days of Queen Eli- 

 zabeth, and is now nearly exhausted, the consequence of which 

 is that Cumberland black-lead brings a very high price. 



Plumbago also exists in many other parts of the world, where 

 although not of a quality fit for lead pencils ; it is profitably 

 worked for other purposes, chiefly for converting into crucibles; 

 it is used however, for polishing grates and stoves, to prevent the 

 friction of machinery, and a preservative of iron from rust. On 

 the Ottawa, it is known to exist of a very pure quality at the iron 

 mine in Hull, but as yet in such small quantities, as not to war- 

 rant its being worked. It exists also tolerably pure at Devil's 

 Lake, nerr Newborough, on the Rideau Canal. It is also found 

 in large quantities, but of an inferior description, at Grenville, yet 

 if properly cleared, would no doubt answer for crucibles. 



The opinion of some of the great pencil-makers of the metro- 

 polis was obtained by Mr. Logan in regard to its applicability to 

 the purpose of their trade, and " although it was found that the 

 plumbago could, by washing, be freed from its impurities, and 

 after the method of Mr. Brockedon, be converted into pencils, 

 they would be considered of inferior quality. 



LEAD ORE GALENA. 



Lead was well known to the ancients, and was used in Britain 

 from very ancient times. Amongst the Romans it constituted a 

 most important article of commerce, blocks and pigs of it having 

 been frequently discovered, bearing Latin inscriptions, and the 

 remains of Roman establishments are found in the neighbour- 

 hood. Several pigs of lead are deposited in the British Museum 

 bearing Roman inscriptioms. 



After the departure of the Romans, the Saxons continued to 

 work the lead mines, and are supposed to have been the first who 

 buried their dead in leaden coffins, the remains of which are fre- 

 quently met with in various parts of England. In the casting of 

 lead, and where it is rapidly cooled, a cavity is produced, and 

 which in rifle bullets is instrumental in causing them to swerve 

 from a rectilinear course ; on this account rifle and musket balls 

 are frequently formed from rolled lead. If rain or river water is 

 exposed for any length of time in open leaden vessels, the 

 metal becomes oxidized and deleterious, and in cases where dan- 

 ger is to be apprehended in this way from cisterns, Doctor Chris- 

 tison advises their being filled with a very weak solution of phos- 

 plate of soda, by which they become covered with an insoluble 

 coating. 



Lead ore is found in several parts of Canada. It either is or 

 has been worked near Kingston, with what results I do not know. 

 It abounds on the Ottawa, and somewhere in our immediate vi- 

 cinity, on the Gatineau, it is said to be so plentiful and so easy of 



[1853 



access as if discovered to admit of being worked most profitably. 

 But the secret of its locality is confined to the Indians, who look 

 upon it with so much superstition that nothing can bribe them to 

 divulge it ; they are under the impression that when the white 

 man discovers it, their race is to be swept away. I have in my 

 private collection an Indian pipe made from an oaken knot, the 

 bowl of which is most ingeniously lined with lead — it was found 

 in an Indian grave at Rice Lake. It is found also in large quan- 

 tities on the land of Mr. Marshall, at Fitzroy, and ere long, I 

 have no doubt the Ottawa, amongst its existing and prospective 

 manufactures will add lead to the number. 



COPPER. 



Native copper is as yet only known to exist in Canada in quan- 

 tities worthy of attention at the Bruce and Wallace Mines, Lake 

 Superior, where a company is just now working it very profitably 

 — it is of a very pure description. We have a spear-head in the 

 museum, evidently made of native copper, and shaped by ham- 

 mering, which was picked up in Renfrew. It is probable that 

 it was left there by some of the migratory tribes of Indians 

 during their incursions across the country, on their way to the 

 Ottawa, with a belligerent intention. 



There is an engraving of a spear-head in the Canadian Jour- 

 nal for January, 1853, identical in every respect with our speci- 

 men, and which is described as a relic of the ancient miners of 

 Lake Superior. It at all events shows us that the Aborigines 

 were acquainted with the metal. 



Having now concluded our descriptions of the metals, we has- 

 ten to enumerate some of the refractory materials and minerals of 

 the Ottawa, amongst which are included : — Marbles, white. 

 mottled green, gray, brown — all of superior quality and easily 

 worked; millstones; grindstones and whetstones; sandstones, 

 white and yellow, for the manufacture of glass; phosphate of lime 

 and shell marl, highly important as manures; hydraidic lime- 

 stone, for making hydraulic cement Dolomite, for the manufac- 

 ture of Epsom salts, and containing 45 peT ceDt. of carbonate of 

 magnesia. Steatite or soap-stone, which is applicable to various 

 purposes, since it is used in the manufacture of porcelain, and for 

 polishing serpentine marble and mirror glasses. It constitutes 

 the basis of cosmetic powders, and is a main ingredient in 

 autiattrition pastes, and dusted on the inside of new boots, it 

 causes them to slip on easily ; lastly, it removes grease spots from 

 silk and woollen cloths. 



Amongst the minerals in the ladies' department and applica- 

 ble to jewellery, we have Labradorite, which, when looked at in 

 different lights, assumes the hues of changeable silk. Sunstone 

 hyacynths and Oriental rabies and sapphires, together with ame- 

 thyst, garnet, and peristerite, a new mineral discovered by my 

 esteemed friend Dr. Wilson, of Perth, and deriving its name 

 from the appearance it assumes of the beautiful colour of a dove's 

 breast. 



CLAT FOR BRICKS, TILES, &c. 



Pottery clay of several varieties, also exists very generally 

 throughout the Ottawa country. 



Of the Woods of the Ottawa; 



Amongst the ordinary wants and prerequisites of the human 

 family, there is none involved in more doubt and darkness than 

 the origin of Fire. And it is not known whether its first dis- 

 covery was referable to the direct action of the Sun's rays, to 

 spontaneous combustion, to percussion, to friction, or to an acci- 

 dental mixture of different substances. The generally received 

 opinion, however, is that the most primitive mode of producing 

 it artificially was by rubbing two pieces of dry Wood together, 



