from Lake Superior. 177 



constitutes a narrow vein, does not appear to contain the slightest 

 trace of galena, or any other substance, except a small quantity 

 of specular iron ore ; and the unaltered appearance of the latter 

 is such as to preclude the supposition of the metal having been 

 derived from galena, or other lead compound, by artificial heat. 

 The lead, when cut, presents the ordinary colour, softness, and 

 ductility of the pure metal. Before the blowpipe it melts 

 readily, and volatilizes, imparting a blue tint to the flame-border, 

 and forming a yellow ring of oxide on the charcoal. The fused 

 globule is perfectly malleable. On the cupel it becomes entirely 

 oxidized and absorbed without leaving a trace of silver. The 

 cupel stain, when cold, is of a clear yellow colour, showing the 

 absence of copper, nickel, &c. The nitric-acid solution yields 

 with reagents the ordinary reactions of lead-oxide. The sub- 

 stance is distinguished from galena by its ductility, and by yield- 

 ing no sulphur reaction with carbonate of soda before the blowpipe. 

 From bismuth also it is distinguished by its perfect malleability, 

 as well as by the blue colour which it imparts to the outer border 

 of the blowpipe-flame. As a further test, it may be stated that 

 a small cutting placed in a solution of bismuth in nitric acid 

 produces a black arborescent precipitate of that metal. 



This discovery is interesting, not only from the extreme rarity 

 of native lead, but from the fact also that in the few undoubted 

 European localities in which the metal has been found, the latter 

 is generally accompanied by gold. The quartz in which the 

 Lake- Superior specimen occurs has, curiously enough, the some- 

 what waxy aspect and other characters, more easily recognized 

 than described, of the gold-bearing quartz of California and 

 other auriferous districts; and the geological position of the 

 bounding rock, immediately above that of the Huronian strata, 

 is in a measure identical with the horizon of the gold-bearing 

 rocks from which the auriferous deposits of Eastern Canada 

 have been derived. No gold has hitherto been met with, how- 

 ever, in the sands of the Kaministiquia or other streams of 

 Thunder Bay. 



2. Galena, PbS. — This well-known mineral, the common ore 

 of lead, occurs at numerous localities on the north shore of Lake 

 Superior. Some especially rich lodes lie in the newly-surveyed 

 township of Neebing, on Thunder Bay, and others of even greater 

 promise have been discovered in the district around Black Bay. 

 In most localities of this region the galena is accompanied by 

 copper pyrites, the latter occasionally predominating. The vein- 

 stone is principally quartz, with calc-spar, heavy spar, and fluor- 

 spar in subordinate quantities. When crystallized, the galena 

 presents almost invariably the common combination of cube and 

 octahedron. This combination and the simple cube are the only 



