81 



the above mentioned compounds of that metal. In some of these 

 places the manufacture of copper has been attempted, but without 

 the success that would justify a prosecution of the enterprise. In 

 Orange, Taylor's copper mine, though opened with high expectations 

 of profit, has been long abandoned. In the neighbourhood of the 

 Folly, judging from the number and extent of the excavations which 

 are seen, we would be led to infer that at the time when they were 

 made great value was attached to the material which they furnished; 

 and if the traditions of the country in regard to the operations of 

 Colonel Chissel in this region prior to the revolutionary war, may 

 be received as authentic, that singular and mysterious personage 

 found in the products of these mines or pits a rich reward for all 

 the labour and expense which he appears to have bestowed in work- 

 ing them. It would seem that the cupreous rock was not smelted 

 by him, but merely ground in a mill, some vestiges of which still 

 remain, and then packed up and sent to England. 



Similar bands of cupreous rock occur in Campbell county on 

 Beaver creek, about two miles from Ross' furnace, and also in the 

 lower end of the county. Pits like those at the Folly have likewise 

 been opened on the land of Mr. Walker, near the James river in 

 Buckingham. 



Among other interesting minerals occurring in this region are 

 beds of chloritic steatite and chlorite slate near the Variety mills, 

 Nelson county ; galena or sulphuret of lead in veins ; in quartz at 

 Rennet-bag creek, Franklin county ; sulphate of baryta in numerous 

 localities ; sulphuret of iron in cubical and other forms, very fre- 

 quent ; plumbago in considerable masses in Buckingham and Am- 

 herst; brown oxide of titanium in the neighbourhood of Lynch- 

 burg. 



Many parts of the region of which we have been speaking, as for 

 instance in the vicinity of Lynchburg, the Buffaloe ridge and the 

 Folly, are likely to form highly interesting localities to the mineralo- 

 gist, from the variety and character of the minerals they furnish ; 

 and there is little doubt that interesting developements, in a practical 

 as well as scientific point of view, will result from the minute ex- 

 ploration of these and other districts throughout this portion of the 

 state. 



What has now been said in relation to the rocks of the South- 

 west mountain and its flanks, will with but little modification be 



