force, the rifts in the rock, which now form the veins, became narrower and narrower, until, when the surface of the ground was at last reached it had only just sufficient energy left to bubble over through the cracks, where it then cooled off and hardened into thin lava-like ridges. These ridges are to be seen in all directions in the asbestos districts of Canada, wherever the peculiar yellowish-looking stone forming the upper crust of the asbestos-bearing rocks is found. And notwithstanding the plainly visible evidence that these rocks, from centuries of exposure to the elements, have been worn away on the upper surface until they have assumed a rounded, water-washed, boulder-like shape, the narrow ridges spoken of have apparently always remained in the same state, alike indestructible and undisturbed.

If you will imagine to yourself the mountain masses of almost perpendicular rock, which contain the horizontally-lying seams frequently found in Italy, to be thrown backward and downward so as to lie face uppermost, and so that you could walk on the face, you will get a rough idea of the lie of the veins in the Canadian serpentine. And possibly on further exploration the analogy would be still further borne out by these veins being found to terminate in reservoirs or pockets, just as it has been said is usually found to be the case in Italy. No one has yet gone far enough down to test the depth of the veins in any Canadian mine. It will no doubt presently be done. All that would be required would be to bore until the next series was reached. The experiment, if expensive, would be both valuable and instructive, especially bearing in mind the well-known fact in Canadian mining that the deeper you follow the veins into the ground the better the quality of the cotton becomes.

There is one more point of distinction between the two kinds, and that is in the surface indications, which may possibly be due to atmospheric influences. In Italian exploration the prospector is not guided by any hard lines or ridges on the rock surface of the ground, as in Canada. On the contrary, he finds cracks in the perpendicular face of the rock filled with a white powdery substance which, when the surface is broken away, is said to assume a leathery appearance, after which, when further entry is made, the true asbestos is found.

Thus, it will be seen that there is not only a considerable difference between the two sorts of asbestos which supply the demands of the market, but that the mode of winning it is also different; as are, moreover, the natural indications which guide the explorer in his search after the mineral.

FOOTNOTES:

CANADIAN MINING FOR ASBESTOS.

And now I will leave the subject of the Italian mines altogether, and proceed to give some account of the asbestos mining industry as carried on in Canada; mainly the result of my notes and observations during a residence at the mines.

The main sources from which the supply of asbestos in the Dominion is derived lie in the province of Quebec, in the counties of Megantic and Beauce. The serpentine rock in which it is found crops up at intervals all along the belt of what has been previously alluded to as the "altered Quebec group"[4] (pre-Cambrian), throughout a range of over 120 miles in length, occasionally attaining a width of more than 2,500 feet, mostly bearing from north-east to south-west, and crossing the Coleraine District nearly east and west. It extends almost uninterruptedly from the boundary of Vermont, in the State of Maine, running north-eastward, to some distance from the Chaudière River, a little beyond the latitude of Quebec.

Large tracts of serpentine, probably containing the mineral in paying quantities, occur at Belmina in Wolfe County, and in the vicinity of Brompton Lake; but although the work of exploration has been carried on in several places with fair prospects of success, the profitable working of the mineral up to the present time has been mostly confined to Broughton, Thetford, Coleraine, and Danville.

In the Shickshock mountain region of New Brunswick, said to be a detached area of the pre-Cambrian formation, which constitutes the chief mineral belt of the Eastern Townships (within which the last-mentioned districts are comprised), serpentine and chromic iron are the only two minerals which have as yet been recognised. Looking, however, to the fact that these two minerals everywhere accompany the deposits of chrysotile, as well as the ores of copper, lead, and antimony, with occasionally richer deposits of gold and silver, in the region to the south-west, it would scarcely seem unreasonable to anticipate discoveries of asbestos in the as yet unexplored region of the Gaspé peninsula. The range here extends through the northern portion of the peninsula in rear of Saint-Anne des Monts, and further east on the lower part of the Dartmouth River.[5]

Indications of asbestos are found at most points throughout the whole serpentine formation. The developments, so far as is yet known, are principally, as we have said, in the districts around Thetford and Coleraine. There can, however, be no valid reason why chrysotile of the richer sorts and in paying quantities should not be found at other points, it being only reasonable to suppose that future exploration will materially extend the area over which profitable mining operations can be carried on.

In the Blue Book on the "Geological Survey of Canada, 1882" (Mr. Willimott's report), published by the Dominion Government, it is stated that "there appears to be unlimited quantities of asbestos distributed throughout the entire serpentine belt which attains its greatest prominence in the townships of Thetford and Coleraine. Its existence is generally made apparent by a whitish shining substance found coating the serpentine, arising from the decay of the outcropping veins. But this," he says, "must not be taken as always indicating the presence of workable veins."

The character of the rock varies considerably, and in some places it is even now apparently in the transition stage between the original rock from which it is derived and a true serpentine, having still almost the hardness of felspar, while it yet retains the general aspect and colour of the serpentine in which it is found. Large masses of dioritic rock, having the aspect of dykes, are found in most of the quarries, possibly representing portions of the original rock not yet altered to serpentine.