I860.] TH0ST BREADALBANE MINES. 425 



localities become very incommodious, this mineral field abounds with 

 interesting matter. 



Taymouih. — The most eastern hills on Loch Tay, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Taymouth, literally swarm with veins containing copper- 

 pyrites, iron-pyrites, and galena, either singly or together ; and the 

 lead- ore has always a tolerable admixture of silver. A common 

 characteristic of all the veins is, that they are almost exclusively 

 quartzose. 



Iron-ore of Glenqueich. — Six miles south of Taymouth, at Glen- 

 qucich, a large deposit of decomposed iron-ore has been found. The 

 whole arrangement of the slope of the hill shows that the mica- 

 schist has been impregnated with numberless crystals of iron-py- 

 rites, which by paragenesis became transformed, along with the still 

 quite distinct strata of the original rock, into a homogeneous mass, 

 having the nearest resemblance to haematite. 



Corycharmaig : Serpentine, <Sfc. — Four miles west from the upper 

 end of Loch Tay, at Corycharmaig, the mica-schist contains serpen- 

 tine, passing in some parts into syenite. As is almost always the 

 case where serpentine appears, it contains chromate of iron. The 

 distant situation of this ore-deposit, which covers about half a square 

 mile, the uncertain prices given for the ore, and the expensive land- 

 carriage have prevented the exploration of that otherwise valuable 

 mineral-field. 



In the same vicinity the mica in the mica-schist is more often 

 than usual replaced by graphite, of which beds of tolerable dimen- 

 sions have been discovered. Furthermore, in the same neighbour- 

 hood rutile has been found, enveloped in quartz, and in the shape of 

 thin plates or of fine long needles. 



Further west from the serpentino, several veins of a quartzy 

 structure have been found ; but they are all of small importance for 

 mining-purposes, being only of value as enabling us to observe the 

 great number of fissures existing in almost every place where the 

 rock allows of inspection. 



Loch Earn Head. — At Loch Earn Head several galena-veins, of 

 inferior importance, have been discovered in a stratum of calcareous 

 schist. Their outcrop is overlain by gossan, in which particles of 

 native gold appear to have been found. Certain it is that arsenical 

 pyrites, which was at one time met with as an accessory mineral, 

 contained six ounces of gold per ton. As it has been observed above 

 that proofs of the presence of igneous rock accompany a loch, so here 

 also, though few and scattered fragments only have been found. 



Qlen Fattich, -At (he head of Glen Pallich, near Crianlarich, a 



galena-vein, of about 3 feet in width, and striking from X.N.K. to 

 S.S.W., has been discovered. The vein is in all respects of the same 



structure as the other veins, to he described presently. 



Tyndrwm. — The two veins intersecting the mica-schist at Tyn- 

 diuiii, at the head of (Jh-n Dochart, are of importance. The first of 

 the.se veins runs through a stratum of granular quartz; and the other 

 lies close to the junction of this qnartzose mica-schisi and the true 

 mica-schist. "While the farmer follows a north-north-eastern and 



\ oi.. xvi. — PABI I. 2 I 



