Copper Mines. 509 
are the native or malleable—the peacock, yellow, grey, 
ruby and malachite—all of which, excepting the first-men- 
tioned, and the last, assume their beautiful appearances 
from admixture with other metallic or mineral substances ; 
for it may be observed that ores are seldom found un- 
mixed. Malleable, or pure native copper, is very rare; and 
though of great intrinsic value, is prized in general as a 
curiosity. Peacock copper, which commonly contains not 
more than one-fifth of pure copper, exhibits every variety 
of colour which can be found in the plumage of the bird 
from which it receives its appellation; specimens are to be 
had in the shops of all mineralogists at very moderate ex- 
pense. Yellow copper owes its rich colour to a portion of 
sulphur and grey copper, to an admixture with tin or 
silver. Ruby copper ore is highly crystallised, and exhi- 
bits a rich red tinge, derived, probably, from a small por- 
tion of manganese. The most beautiful of all the copper 
ores is malachite. It receives its name from the mallow, 
to the leaves of which it is supposed to bear some resem- 
blance, being of a bright and lively green. Though ranked 
among the ores, malachite is, in reality, not an ore at all, 
being only a petrifaction of water strongly impregnated 
with verdigris. So highly prized is this substance, that a 
piece of fine malachite, the size of a person’s head, would 
be worth about £200. It is capable of being cut into 
slices, and has been long used ina variety of forms for 
female ornaments. There is a very fine specimen of mala- 
chite in the British Museum, and a much finer one in the 
collection at the Jardin des Plantes, in Paris; and at Ver- 
sailles are two sideboards of the same precious substance, 
which were contributed to that magnificent palace by the 
Czar of Russia, in the reign of Louis XIV. There was no 
mean specimen of malachite to be seen a few days ago on 
the lid of a snuff-box, at a jewellers shop adjoining Bow 
Church, Cheapside. Some of the Cornish miners have 
gone to considerable expense in the formation of their col- 
lections of minerals. The collection of Mr. Williams, of 
Scorrier-house, is estimated at several thousand pounds; 
and the cabinets of several other gentlemen in the county 
are equally valuable. 
When the ores are collected after excavation, they are 
separated with care from the stone or other substance from 
which they have been detached; after which they are 
smashed or broken into small pieces, either by broad flat 
hammers, used by hand, or some crushing apparatus worked 
