1877.] Proceedings of Societies. | 125 < 
etc., collected by him in the course of a voyage from New York to San 
Francisco, and back by way of Liverpool. 
Geological Section, October 16th. A paper on Prehistoric Remains 
in Western North Carolina was read by Mr. A. A. Julien; who has been 
associated with Professor Kerr in the survey of that State. Four classes 
of such remains were considered, namely, tools, rude sculpturings, 
mounds, and excavations. A small collection of tools was exhibited, and 
accidental resemblances to those from St. Acheul, France, noted in them. 
The rude imitative carvings on rocks, which have been observed in two 
localities, were then referred to, as well as those, possibly of Indian 
origin, on beeches in the Nantehaleh Valley, resembling maps of the sur- 
- rounding excavations. The scarcity of mounds was explained, their 
general restriction to the tract covered by ancient excavations referred 
to, and a description given of the largest one, near Franklin, Macon 
County. 
A remarkable pitting of the mountain sides by mines is now going 
on; but perhaps it hardly equals that which formerly existed, as repre- 
sented by the extensive series of ancient excavations which extends from 
Mitchell County southward to the state line, and into Georgia, and 
which seems to have been directed to the exploitation of two minerals, 
muscovite and steatite. The peculiar industry of the region at present 
consists in mining for mica. The coarse granite veins which contain it 
often include a central quartz band, which has affected the character of 
both the prehistoric and the present styles of mining. All the mines are 
superficial, and their veins may be divided into hard or soft, in relation 
to the state of decomposition of their materials. In fourteen mines vis- 
ited, in which the veins are hard, no ancient workings had been found. 
But of twenty-one mines with soft veins visited, eight had been discov- 
ered through the ancient workings, whose size was proportioned to that 
of the veins, and generally indicated their importance for the present in- 
dustry. These workings are of two classes. The one consists of 
shafts, sometimes containing iron tools, and supposed by some to be due 
to the Spaniards, or to later adventurers in the early history of our 
country. The other class consists of open excavations, sometimes con- 
nected with small tunnels, and are certainly of prehistoric origin. ‘These 
Were severally described, namely, the Sink Hole and Buckhannon 
mines in Mitchell County ; the Gibbs in Yancy County; Allman’s, Ra- 
by’s, Hall’s, and Smith’s in Macon County ; and Smith’s in Clay County, 
with observations on the mode of mining, the form of the tunnels, 
the character of the dumps, the plans and sections of the excavations, — 
and the tools probably used by the ancient miners. The ashes discov- 
ered in certain mines may betoken the occasional use of fire in the 
course of mining here, as in the tunnels of the Lake Superior copper 
region. ; 
The vast quantities of mica which have been extracted in this region 
