292 
GEOLOGY. 
stream flows, fringed with cotton-woods. This Canada is ascended for about eight miles, in a 
direction a few degrees west of south. On approaching the junction between the sandstone and 
granite, the trail turns to the west and passes over to another canon, and ascends this to the 
high granite ridges, where trees and water are abundant. The ruins of a log-house, and the 
forge that has been used to melt the ore, are romantically situated at the lower end of a long 
but rugged Canada, between high and steep granite ridges. This canon and the sides of the 
mountain are heavily timbered with large fir trees. 
The ore for the supply of the furnace appears to have been obtained from the numerous 
transported fragments, mingled with the granite debris brought down the canon by floods. The 
ascent of this canon was commenced in search of the vein, and I was guided by the numerous 
boulders of solid ore, which were, in some cases, over one foot in diameter. They were traced 
up to the foot of a steep and rocky channel, descending the almost precipitous side of the 
mountain, and it was evident that their source was at a very considerable elevation above. The 
blocks of ore were occasionally met with along this channel, one of them was twenty-seven 
inches long and from sixteen to eighteen wide. The vein was at length found, at an elevation 
of about 6,000 feet above the sea. 
This vein is hounded on both sides by granite, and it appears to extend in a nearly north 
and south direction. The outcrop is so situated on the face of the cliff that it was hardly pos¬ 
sible to give it a full examination ; and the greater part of it is so much covered from view by 
a thick crust of decomposed ore, that the thickness of the vein could not he conveniently 
measured. I judged, however, that the solid or workable part was from four to ten or twelve 
feet thick. There certainly is an unusual quantity of ore at this locality, and at some future 
day it will be worked with profit. 
The ore is principally compact and massive, and free from gangue. Several specimens of 
quartz, traversed by thin blades and prismatic masses of the sulphuret, were picked up; and 
quartz is one of the principal minerals of association. The decomposed parts of the vein are 
colored yellow by the abundance of antimony ochre ; and crystals of sulphate of lime are distri¬ 
buted through it. When this vein is worked, there will doubtless he many interesting speci¬ 
mens of antimonial minerals obtained. There were no indications of the presence of silver, nor 
is it probable that this metal is combined with the ore in any quantity. The report that it is 
rich in silver probably originated in the fancy and hopes of those who first found the locality. 
It is merely the sulphuret of antimony, and is commonly known as Grey Antimony or Anti¬ 
mony-Glance , and is the same as the Lupus-Metallorum of the alchemists. It is the most widely 
diffused ore of this metal, and nearly all the antimony and its compounds, used in the arts and 
in medicine, are derived from it. The mineral, as generally found, has a bluish-gray color and 
a metallic lustre, and occurs not only in masses, but in long slender prisms, often divergent, 
and in lamellar masses, which cleave easily, and expose brilliant surfaces. It is very brittle, and 
is easily reduced to a fine powder. Chemical analysis shows the presence of from seventy-two 
to seventy-four parts of metal in one hundred, the remainder being sulphur. 
The principal localities of the ore are Felsobanya, Schemnitz and Kremnitz, in Hungary, 
where it is found in prismatic masses, often several inches in length, traversing the crystals of 
barytes and other minerals with which it is associated. It is also obtained at Wolfsthal, in 
Hungary, where it forms a compact vein. In England, it occurs both fibrous and laminated, 
in Dumfrieshire, and massive in the southwestern part of the county of Cornwall. It is found 
in France, in South America, and sparingly in the United States, at Carmel, Maine, and, 
