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the waters of the ocean when the tide rose, and served to support the machines for raisingthe ore and drainage. A vessel driven by a storm overturned it during the night, andput a period to this hazardous mode of mining, which has not been resumed.
The most considerable mines of Ireland are those of Cronebane and Tingrony, and ofBallymartagh, situated three leagues S.W. of Wicklow, in the county of the same name.Their object is to work the copper pyrites, accompanied with some other ores of copper,galena, sulphuret of antimony, as well as pyrites of iron, which forms several flattenedmasses in the clay-slate. Pretty extensive workings have been made here ; and the oreWas transported in its natural state to Swansea. Veins or masses of copper pyrites andgal ena are mined in some other points of the southeast of Ireland, ™ut none of them withany notable advantage. The principal is the lead mine situated in the county of Tipperary,near the village called Silver Mines, absurdly enough, because, though silver was soughtfor in the lead, none was extracted. Many iron mines anciently existed in Ireland , butthe destruction of the forests has considerably diminished their number and activity, sothat only a few remain in Kilkenny, Wicklow, and Queen’s County .
The isle of Anglesey is celebrated lor* its copper mines, the principal of which areMona-mine and Parys-mountain. The ore is a copper pyrites, sometimes of considerableVolume, lying in masses in a formation containing serpentines and different talcose rocks.Tor a long time the workings were carried on in the open air, but the exterior explora-tion has been thereby compromised. The neighboring coasts of Wales present somemines of the same nature. .All the ores are treated in a smelting-liouse established inthe isle of Anglesey. The formation of slate-clay and greywacke, which constitutes thegreater part of Wales , and some of the adjoining districts of England, includes severallead mines, of which we shall presently speak in noticing those of far greater importancecontained in the more recent limestone formations of the same regions.
Pretty important mines of copper pyrites and red hematitic iron are worked inWestmoreland, and in the neighboring parts of Cumberland and Lancashire . Thecopper ores, and a portion of the iron ones, are embarked for Swansea. The rest of theiron ore is treated on the spot in blast furnaces supplied with wood charcoal. Theisle of Man affords indications of lead, copper, and iron, in the mountains of Snafle,Which constitute its centre. At Borrowdale in Westmoreland, a mine of graphite(plumbago) has been worked for a long period. It furnishes the black lead of theEnglish pencils, so celebrated over the world. The mineral occurs in mass in a talcoseformation.
There are famous lead mines in the south of Scotland, at Leadhills in Lanarkshire ;the veins of which are incased in greywacke. Some manganese has also been found.At Cally, in Kirkcudbrightshire, a copper mine has been lately discovered ; and a mineof antimony has been known for some time at West Kirk in Dumfriesshire ; but neitherhas been turned to good account.
In the middle part of Scotland , the lead mines of Strontian in Argyleshire deserve tohe noticed, opposite to the northeast angle of the isle of Mull. They are opened onVeins which traverse gneiss. According to Mr. John Taylor, these mines and those ofEeadhills produce annually 5,610,000 lbs. avoird. of lead.
Explorations of manganese were begun at Grantown on the banks of the Don, a riverWhich falls inlo the German ocean at Aberdeen. A mine of coarse graphite has alsobeen worked at Huntley.
A copper mine was discovered some years back in one of the Shetland isles; tyidehromate of iron is now extensively worked there in serpentine and talc.
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These mines are situated for the most part in the south of Norway , toward the middleof Sweden, and in the south of Finland , a little way from the shortest line drawn fromthe lake Onega to the southwest angle of Norway . A few mines occur in the northerndistricts of Norway and Sweden . The main products of these several mines are iron,copper, and silver.
The iron mines of Norway lie on the coasts of the gull of Christiania , and on the sidefacing Jutland, principally at Arendal, at Krageroe , and the neighborhood. The oresinsist almost solely of black oxide of iron, which forms beds or veins of from 4 to 60 feetthick, incased in gneiss, which is accompanied with pyroxene (augite), epidotes, garnets,&c. These iron ores are reduced in a great many smelting forges, situated on the sameCo _asts, and particularly in the county of Laurwig. Their annual product is about 16Jmillions of pounds avoird. of iron, in the form of cast iron, har iron, sheet iron, nails,^• c *; of which one half is exported.
Norway possesses rich copper mines, some of which lie toward the south and thecentre of "the country, but the most considerable occur in the north, at Quikkne, Lceken ,Selboe, and R(zraas i near Drontheim. The mine of Rceraas, 16 miles from Drontheim to