116 
GEOLOGY OF THE FIRST DISTRICT. 
idea among some people, who still yield implicit faith to the miraculous virtues of the “ mine¬ 
ral rod” and magic glass, when used by the favored few who pretend to be gifted with such 
peculiar powers. 
It is stated by various gentlemen of the highest veracity, that a man of high respectability 
came from Connecticut to the owner of the farm, and informed* him that there was a valuable 
lead mine on his land, which was worked many years before ; that it was covered over with 
planks ; that a walnut stick was lying with one end on the planks, and the other mostly decayed 
near the surface ; that the earth had washed over it about four feet deep, (with other circum¬ 
stances of detail;) and that he could go directly to it. He would make no communication to 
indicate the locality, until the owner had executed a bond to secure a certain portion of the 
profits to the informer, who had never been to the locality, but who stated that he was enabled 
to see it, and go directly to it, by looking at a polished stone as a mirror placed in the crown 
of his hat, with his face applied to the opening of his hat, to exclude the view of other objects. 
He seemed a perfectly unassuming quiet man, with a perfect faith in his ability to perform 
what he stated. Many of the citizens of the vicinity accompanied him in his wanderings, and 
he finally stopped near the foot of the hill on which we have described the pyrites, and where 
he directed excavations to find the mine. The walnut stick was found as indicated, except 
that there were no planks ; and no opening, no traces of a mine, or of any ore,, could be dis¬ 
covered. He went away, much mortified with his failure. 
A few years afterwards, a girl who was reputed to be able to see in a magic glass, or po¬ 
lished stone held in a dark place, was employed to discover the supposed mine, and it was 
said she had never been in the vicinity before. She looked, and walked to within a few yards 
of the same spot, drove a stake in the ground, and said the mine was there, at a depth of 
thirty-five feet; but none has been found. 
A man who had moved into another part of the country when a boy, returned when old 
about thirty-five years ago, and stated, that when he was a boy, he had been into a mine in 
that hill where the lead ore had been dug, and that he had seen the ore. He had endeavored 
to find the mine, without letting the people know the object of his search. 
Hearing these stories, and many believing that there is a lead mine in that hill, led me to 
make an examination of the locality with as much care as was practicable without excava¬ 
tions. The loose stones on the surface are more or less porous gneiss, with a reddish colour. 
Both the porosity and color are due to the decomposition of pyrites probably, for I discovered 
no traces of any metal but iron. These appearances would very naturally induce the idea 
of a mine, even without the aid of a magic glass; but whether any ore of value occurs 
there, is a subject for investigation. There are no indications that seem to justify the ex¬ 
penditure of capital in search of lead or other metals. The rock near the brow of the hill 
abounds in pyrites, is nearly vertically stratified, ranges north-northeast and south-southwest, 
and is intersected by quartz veins (that shew no metallic contents) in a southeast and north¬ 
west direction. The great vein of magnetic oxide of iron called the Simewog vein, (in con¬ 
sequence of the extensive mines of this ore that have been worked in Simewog hill,) is about 
one-eighth of a mile west of this locality of pyrites, as is supposed from the great variation 
