384 



THE GEOLOaiST. 



It lias long been ascertained that the drift of the south side of the 

 St. Lawrence, from Lake Champion to the Etchemin and probably to the 

 extremity of Gaspe, is auriferous ; the area being about 15,000 square 

 miles. Gold has been washed from this gravel on the St. Francis in 

 Melbourne, at Sherbrooke in Westbury, Weedon, and Dudswell, and on 

 Lake St. Francis, Eiviere des Plantes (Vaudreuil), and along the Eiviere 

 du Loup, near its junction with the Chaudiere. From the numerous small 

 masses of gold obtained from the Chaudiere valley, there cannot be much 

 doubt that the drift-gold of the region has been derived from quartz veins 

 situated probably not very far distant. Gold grains have been seen in 

 a quartz vein, between 2 and 3 feet thick, cutting the bluish-black slate 

 of the Quebec group about a mile below the St. Francis Eapids. 



Among the gold-drift of the Chaudiere there are met in small quantities 

 grains of platinum and of iridosmine, — an alloy of the rare metals iridium 

 and osmium, which, being very hard, is used for pointing gold pens. 

 Some of the gold met with also has been found thinly coated with a mer- 

 curial amalgam ; but no trace of cinnabar, the common form of ore of mer- 

 cury, has been observed in the drift. Amongst the substances met with 

 by the Canada Gold Mining Company, in separating the gold from the 

 drift, are lead shot of various sizes, from partridge to swan shot, and which 

 are nearly as abundant as the gold. 



Of the minerals applicable to chemical manufactures we have chromic 

 iron, from the Quebec group ; molybdenite, from Laurentian gneiss ; co- 

 baltiferous pyrites, from Laurentian gneiss. In the Eastern Townships a 

 vast quantity of dolomite occurs. Stratigraphically it is at the base of the 

 Quebec group, where magnesian rocks are associated with the sulphurets 

 of copper and other metals. One of the rocks associated with or replacing 

 the dolomite is magnesite. Specimens are shown from Sutton and Bolton. 

 The finest kind contains 80 per cent, of magnesia, with a portion of carbo- 

 nate of iron. In Bolton it forms an enormous bed, resembling crystalline 

 limestone. Though the use of this mineral as an economic source of mag- 

 nesia is on a large scale, its most important application is for the manufac- 

 ture of a cement to resist the action of sea-water. 



Petroleum, or rock-oil, in all its states, such as green or mineral tar from 

 the surface, crude oil from the well, refined or burning oil, and lubricating 

 oil for machinery, is exhibited by the Canadian Oil Company. The bitu- 

 minous shale of the Utica formation yields, when distilled, from 3 to 4 per 

 cent, of tarry oil, which by the usual process of rectification yields oil for 

 illumination and lubrication. 



Magnificent specimens of phosphate of lime (apatite) are sent from 

 North Elmsley and South Burgess. At the former place the deposit has 

 been traced for a distance of a mile, apparently forming an irregular bed 

 on the Laurentian limestone. On lot 25, where it has been quarried, the 

 breadth of the bed is about ten feet, of which three feet are nearly pure 

 crystalline apatite, with only a small admixture of black mica ; the re- 

 mainder is mingled with limestone, the phosphate predominating. This 

 deposit seems to be continued south-westerly through Burgess. 



We now pass to the Eefractory Minerals. Among the magnesian rocks 

 at the base of the Quebec group, in that part of its distribution where it is 

 in a metamorphic state, soapstone, or steatite occurs in great abundance. 

 Beds of it, varying from 1 to 16 feet thick, can be traced for long distances, 

 usually not far removed from serpentine-dolomite or magnesite, or appa- 

 rently rcpinring oue of these rocks. In general the soapstone is remark- 

 ably {)urt\ but occasionally there are disseminated in it crystals of bitter 

 spar or of actinolite. The specimens exhibited are from Sutton and Bolton. 



