Page images
PDF
EPUB

have been found in the Eastern Townships or the neighbourhood, a district in which the Earthy or Bog Manganese Ore is of not uncommon occurence (see Section D.) Pyrolusite is found also in the adjoining State of Vermont. It is a valuable ore. Sulphide of Antimony has not hitherto been recognised in Canada. It occurs principally in fibrous masses of a lead or steel-grey colour, often with a dark or iridescent tarnish. A thin splinter wil! melt in the flame of a candle without the aid of the blow-pipe. It has been found in Maine, New Hampshire, &c., in the United States.

B. 3. Not yielding to the Nail.

(Principal Minerals:-Colour reddish; garlic-like odour before the blowpipe: Arsenical Nickel. Colour reddish, with blue or variegated tarnish; Purple Copper Pyrites. Colour, bronze-yellow; magnetic: Magnetic Pyrites. Colour, brass-yellow, often with variegated tarnish; streak, blackish-green: Copper Pyrites. Colour, dark-grey, often with green or blue tarnish; (Sp. gr. under 5.8) Copper Glance. Colour lead-grey; breaking easily into rectangular fragments; (Sp. gr. over 7.0): Galena. Colour, dark brown or various; streak brown; Infusible: Zinc Blende.

Arsenical Nickel :-Colour light copper-red, sometimes with greenish-white coating; exceedingly heavy; yielding an arsenical or garliclike odour before the blowpipe. Many (or most) specimens are just hard enough to scratch glass; hence, this substance is described in full under Section A 2, above. As a Canadian mineral, it is comparatively unimportant.

Magnetic Pyrites :-Colour brownish or bronze-yellow, with black streak. Chiefly in amorphous masses. Magnetic, and often exhibits polarity. H. 3.5-4.5; Sp. gr. 4.4-4.7. Fusible, with sulphur fumes. Easily converted, by roasting, into red oxide of iron. One hundred parts contain: sulphur 39.5, iron 60.5. This substance, like the common pyrites, is not employed as an ore of iron. It occurs in considerable veins in St. Jerome, C. E.; also in the Chaudière Valley, where it is in part auriferous; and, in large quantities, about Balsam Lake, &c., C. W.

Copper Pyrites:-Brass-yellow, often with a variegated tarnish; streak, dark green or greenish-black. Chiefly in amorphous masses; sometimes in small tabular and tetrahedral crystals (Dimetric.) H. 3.5-40; Sp. gr. 4.1-4.3. Fusible with sulphur fumes into a magnetic globule. One hundred parts consist of: sulphur 35, copper 34.5, iron 30.5. This mineral is one of the most important of the

copper ores. It is the characteristic ore of our Huronian rocks.* It occurs abundantly in these, at the Bruce and Wallace mines, Root River, Echo Lake, &c., on Lake Huron; and in the Michipicoten Islands, Lake Superior. It occurs likewise, but in comparatively small quantities in the Laurentian formation: as in the Seigniory of Lanoraie, Berthier County, C.E.; &c.; and it has also been found in the metamorphic district of the Eastern Townships; more especially in Upton, Drummond County, (where an argentiferous variety occurs,) and in Acton, Bagot County. At the latter locality it is auriferous.

Purple Copper Pyrites, (Erubescite):-Colour pale brownish-red, but always more or less masked by a rich blue or variegated tarnish; streak, greyish-black, by which (as well as by its colour, &c.,) this species may be easily distinguished from the variegated specimens of copper pyrites or yellow copper ore. Chiefly in amorphous or small granular masses accompanying yellow copper pyrites in quartz. Some. times, as observed by the writer (Canadian Journal, New Series: vol. 1, page 187) in pseudomorphs, or altered (Dimetric) tetrahedrons, after the yellow ore. H=4.0; sp. gr. 4.4-5.0. Fusible with sulphur fumes into a magnetic globule. One hundred parts contain (as a mean) sulphur 25, copper 60, iron 15. This mineral occurs with copper pyrites at most of the localities given in the description of that substance, above. It is found also in the townships of Inverness and Leeds, Megantic County, C.E.

:

Sulphuret of Copper, or Copper Glance:-Dark lead-grey often with blue or green tarnish; streak, black and slightly shining. Chiefly in amorphous masses, more rarely in small flat six-sided crystals (Trimetric.) H 2.5-3.0; sp. gr. 5.5-5.8. Fusible with bubbling, colouring the flame green, and leaving a copper globule surrounded in

The following Table shows (in a descending order) the positions of the rock-groups recognised in Canada. These groups, with their various subdivisions, &c., will be discussed in detail in one of the succeeding Parts of this series of papers, but the 'present Table may prove useful in the mean time.

Modern or Post-Tertiary Deposits.

The true Drift Formation.

(Here a great break occurs in the geological scale as represented in Canada.) Carboniferous Formation (developed in part only in Gaspé.)

Devonian Formation,

Silurian Formation,*

Huronian Formation,

Laurentian Formation.

* The great fossiliferous formation of Canada. Metamorphosed or rendered crystalline

in part, in the so-called "metamorphic district" of the Eastern Townships and surround. ing region.

general by a dark scoria. One hundred parts contain: sulphur 20.2, copper 79.8. This valuable ore occurs in some abundance at the Bruce Mines, Lake Huron. It is also found at Prince's Mine on Spar Island, Lake Superior, as well as in the Michipicoten Islands and in the Island of St. Ignace on that Lake, associated with copper pyrites, native copper, &c. It occurs likewise (with purple copper pyrites, &c.,) in the eastern metamorphic district: as in the townships of Leeds and Inverness in Megantic county. In the former of these townships it lies, according to Sir William Logan, in a ferruginous dolomite, associated with specular iron ore and a small quantity of native gold.

Galena :-Lead-grey, with black and somewhat shining streak. In amorphous masses of lamellar or granular structure, and in monome

Fig 28.

tric crystals—more especially in cubes and cubo-octahedrons, fig 28. It breaks easily, owing to its well-marked cubical cleavage, into rectangular fragments. H. 2.5; sp. gr. 7.2-7.7. Decrepitates before the blow-pipe and yields lead globules, with the deposition of a yellow coating on the charcoal. One hundred parts contain: sulphur 13.4, lead 86.6; but a portion of the sulphide of lead is generally replaced by sulphide of silver. The silver in most of the Canadian samples, however, is insufficient to meet the cost of its extraction. Galena is the source of nearly all the lead of commerce. It occurs in Canada in very many places, but nowhere, apparently, in large quantities. It is chiefly found in connection with the crystalline limestones of the Laurentian formation, associated with crystallized calc-spar and sulphate of baryta, and sometimes also with zinc blende and iron pyrites. It occurs thus, occasionally forming thin veins, in the townships of Lansdowne and Bastard, (Leeds County, C.W.;) Bedford (Frontenac County, C.W.;) Fitzroy (Carleton County, C.W. ;) Ramsay (Lanark County, C.W.;) Petite Nation (Ottawa County, C. E.;) and, in smaller quantities, in many other townships lying more especially along the southern outcrop of the Laurentian country. Galena has been met with also in the Huronian rocks of the Michipicoten and Spar Islands, Lake Superior, associated with copper ores, calc-spar, amethyst-quartz, &c., and on the neighbouring shores. Also in the metamorphic district of Eastern Canada ; more especially in the quartz veins of the Chaudière Valley (with zinc blende, common and magnetic pyrites, native gold, &c.) as in the seigniories of Vaudreuil and St. George.

Zinc Blende:-This substance varies in its aspect from sub-metallic to vitreo-resinous. The more metallic-looking specimens are darkbrown, black, brownish-yellow or brownish-red, with yellowish or reddish-brown streak, and high lustre. Found chiefly in lammellar and small irregular masses, and in more or less obscure crystals of the Monometric system. H 3.5-4.0; sp. gr. 3.9-4.2. Infusible. One hundred parts contain: sulphur 33, zinc 67. Zinc Blende, although so abundant in many countries, can scarcely be called an ore of zinc : the attempts to employ it for the extraction of the metal, having hitherto proved of very partial success. It may be used however, when ground to powder, as the basis of a wash or paint for frame buildings and wood-work generally. In Canada, Zinc Blende occurs in some abundance at Prince's Mine on Spar Island, and at Maimanse, Lake Superior, with copper ores, galena, &c. Also in small quantities with galena, in the townships of Lansdowne, Bedford, &c., (see under galena, above); and in the eastern metamorphic district of the Chaudière Valley. The Blende of this latter locality (seigniories of Vaudreuil and St. George, Beauce Co.,) has been shewn by Mr. Sterry Hunt of the Geological Survey, to be slightly auriferous. (To be continued.)

REMARKS ON THE PAPER HEADED "THE ODAHWAH INDIAN LANGUAGE," PUBLISHED IN THE CANADIAN JOURNAL FOR NOVEMBER, 1858.

BY F. ASSIKINACK.

Read before the Canadian Institute, 14th January, 1860.

The paper which appeared in the Canadian Journal for November, 1858, headed "The Odahwah Indian Language," was intended to give some particulars relating to the language of the Odahwahs. Although the Odahwahs and Ojibwas may be considered to speak one common language, they, nevertheless, differ in several respects; and in many cases these distinctions are scarcely perceptible in common conversation, and any one who is not well acquainted with

both languages may easily confound the dialect of one tribe with that of the other. On looking over the paper alluded to above, after its publication, I discovered a few irregularities which had found their way into it previous to its going to press; and as I do not hold myself responsible for these mistakes, I will point out as briefly as possible the passages which appear to me to be inaccurate, with some additional remarks on each of the several points in question.

1. At page 482 we have "Naubegwun; "this word should be written Naubequan or Naubekwaun; it is supposed to be derived from Naubekwa, a verb intransitive of the third person singular, and which implies the act of a person running a string or thread through the eye of something, such as a needle, beads and the like. The name may have been given by the Indians to a ship, on account of its having many ropes about it. The verb from Naubekwaun is Naubekwauneka, he builds a ship.

2. On the same page, Tibahahkewenine, a land surveyor, is said to be from Tibahiga, he measures. Now the substantive from this verb is Tibahigawenine, a measurer, or a man who measures, and it may mean a measure of cloth, of lumber, of grain, or anything else, and appears to be merely the verbal form of Tibahigun, a measure, which I consider the root from which all others having the idea of a measure are derived. The verb for he measures, having reference to land exclusively, is Tibahahkee, from Tibahigun, and ahke, land; and from the compound verb and ahnine, a man, is derived, in my opinion, Tibahahkewenine, simply, a measure of land. I may further observe Tibahkonigun signifies a yard-stick, turned into a verb, Tibakonigu, literally, he measures cloth by the yard-stick. None of the verbs above can take a noun after it, and it is somewhat doubtful whether the first syllable should begin with T or D; but this doubt is removed when the verbs are employed as transitives which considerably change at the same time, preserving, however, under all circumstances the letter B, the most important part of the original word. Thus, Odibowahu and mitigoon, he measures a tree or trees, animate, Odibahahu ahke, he measures land, inanimate.

3. At page 483, "Ninahwind" and "Kinahwind" are given for we-these are Ojibwa pronouns, not Odahwah. The latter tribe never put D at the end of these words. The Odahwahs say for we, Ninahwin and Kinahwin, with a slight nasal sound of the last

« EelmineJätka »