les
north from the head of Tangier Harbor, on the northeast branch of the
Tangier River,--shown on McKinley's excellent map of Nova Scotia as
about fifty-eight miles east from Halifax. Subsequent discoveries at
Wine Harbor, Sherbrooke, Ovens, Oldham, Waverley, Hammond's Plains, and
at Lake Loon,--a small lake only five miles distant from Halifax,--have
fully determined the auriferous character of particular and defined
localities throughout the district already described, and abundantly
justify the early opinion of Lord Mulgrave, that "there is now little or
no doubt that this Colony will soon rank as one of the gold-producing
countries of the world."

As a specimen of one of the most interesting mineral veins of this
region, it may answer to select the Montague lode at Lake Loon for a
specific description. The course of this vein is E. 10 deg. N., that being
the _strike_ of the rocks by the compass in that particular district. It
has been traced by surface-digging a long distance,--not less, probably,
than half a mile. At one point on this line there is a _shift_ or
_fault_ in the rocks which has heaved the most productive portion of the
vein about thirty-five feet to the north; but for the rest of the
distance, so far as yet open, the whole lead remains true and
undisturbed.

Its dip, with the rocks around it, is almost vertical,--say from 85 deg. to
80 deg. south. The vein is contained between walls of slate on both sides,
and is a double or composite vein, being formed, 1st, of the main
_leader_; 2d, of a smaller vein on the other side, with a thin slate
partition-wall between the two; and, 3d, of a strongly mineralized slate
_foot-wall_, which is in itself really a most valuable portion of the
ore-channel.

The quartz which composes these interposed sheets, thus
separated, yet combined, is crystallized throughout, and highly
mineralized,--belonging, in fact, to the first class of quartz lodes
recognized in all the general descriptions of the veins of this region.
The associated minerals are, here, _cuprite_ or yellow copper, green
_malachite_ or carbonate of copper, _mispickel_ or arsenical pyrites,
_zinc blende, sesquioxyde of iron_, rich in gold, and also frequent
"sights" or visible masses of gold itself. The gold is also often
visible to the naked eye in all the associated minerals, and
particularly in the mispickel and blende.

The main quartz vein of this interesting lead varies from three to ten
inches