WOODMAN: GOLD-BEARING SLATES OF NOVA SCOTIA. 377 
Tims, one hears of the three-folcl division of the series into ore, slate, 
and whin — the erroneous idea prevailing that neither slate nor 
whin is available as ore. As a whole, these coarser sediments 
are thickly bedded, and comparatively uniform in color and texture 
through a considerable thickness. They vary, however, in degree 
of consolidation from quite friable sandstone to dense quartzite ; and, 
although prevailingly fine-grained, they grade into pelites On the 
one side and, through grits, into conglomerates on the other. 
Their color is generally dark green in unaltered specimens; upon 
weathering first becoming brown through oxidation of sulphides, 
then bleaching to a yellowish white. 
At Moose River Mines and at Waverlv the sediments can be 
«/ 
studied readily. In the former settlement artificial outcrops are 
few, but a number of vertical faces in quarries can be used. At 
Waverly there are few pits, and the shafts follow veins; but nat¬ 
ural exposures can be found, including a total of several hundred 
feet of strata. 
Regional metamorphism affects the whole series. Both coarse 
and fine rocks have been hardened, although subsequently rendered 
fissile by cleavage. Muscovite, chlorite, and calcite have been 
developed, in some cases along bedding-planes, in others along 
cleavage planes. A large proportion of the sandstone has been 
altered to a rock which always has been called quartzite by students 
of the series. It breaks with the lustrous fracture noticeable in that 
species; but microscopic examination shows that much of it is in a 
state which will not permit the use of the term. In these cases 
secondary deposition of silica is slight, while chlorite and muscovite 
are developed somewhat; calcite is abundant, giving free effer¬ 
vescence with acid. This is noteworthy, in view of the statement 
of several observers (Gilpin, ’88, and others) that little lime is to* 
be found in the series. In some cases it is not possible to tell 
whether the muscovite is fragmental or secondary, because of the 
small size of the particles. Occasionally the sediments become 
chloritic schists or mica-schists, and in manv more instances the 
microscope reveals distinct schistosity in a minute way. 
The presence and position of sulphides and sulph-arsenides in 
both classes of fragmental rocks and in veins deserve separate 
treatment. Gilpin (’82) mentions, as accessory to the gold, “ sul¬ 
phides and arsenides of iron, galena, blende, copper pyrites, oxide 
of iron, copper glance, molybdenite, native copper,” etc. The prin- 
