years ago, and inquired whether the superintendants had yet noticed any substance, whose presence they considered auspicious, Colonel Ffyfer, immediately shewed us some specimens of quartz, richly incrusted with the sulphurat, and green and blue carbonates of copper. His impression was, that this aggregite passed into the hill on one side of the creek, in veins, but his attention was then directed, altogether, to the alluvial strata. Lead is supposed to exist in Surry and in Ash; and we have specimens which must have been collected in Haywood, which appear to indicate some rich deposit of this metal in that mountainous county. Limestone appears to be the great want of the whole granitic district. Four isolated and apparently small beds have been discovered in Stokes and Surry, and one much more extensive, exists in the southern part of Lincoln, near King's mountain, which passes into South-Carolina. These beds are all in primitive rocks, and appear to be partakers of their antiquity. In the limestone, which passes, apparently, from Lincoln county to York and Spartanburgh in South-Carolina, some veins of handsome marble have been discovered. Among the subordinate beds, in the granitic district, none are so numerous as those of greenstone. No rock, in general, is so devoid of intermixtures, or contains so few imbedded minerals. It is found scattered over the slate, as well as intermingled in alternate ridges with the granite. In Rowan, beds of greenstone, full of seams, are very numerous, and to some of these, more regular than usual, we are indebted for the NATURAL WALLS, or what are now usually considered as the BASALTIC DYKES, of Rowan. Of these walls, or dykes, several have been discovered in the neighbourhood of Salisbury, the largest and the most known is Robley's wall, and this has been frequently described. Of a smaller one, which Mr. Olmsted examined, he gives the following notices : "Of the natural walls of Rowan, I made a particular examination of only two. The first, is about four miles north of Salisbury, and is known by the name of Jacob's walls. The dykes at this place, of which there are several, are narrow, running through a friable kind of granite. We uncovered one, which exhibited the following characters: "Width, about eight inches, the sides being smooth planes, and separated from the granite by a thin crust of clay 66 Dip, eastward at an angle of 78 degrees. "Seams, at right angles to the sides, dividing the whole into very regular prisms, each crossing the wall, and, consequently, of uniform length, but differing in diameter, and in the number of sides. The ends of these prisms being in the same plane, and at right angles to their sides, form the sides of the wall. "This dyke, though smaller than that of Robley's, is still more regular, and, in every respect, more interesting. The breadth being so small, and the prismatic columns so closely compacted, we found it easy to remove, entire, sections of the wall." Rep. No. 2. p. 115. A discussion has arisen among mineralogists on the nature of these walls, and whether they are, or are not, to be considered as specimens of genuine basalt. Our limits will not permit us to enter into this discussion; we can only add, that from the total absence of olivine, and of all the zeolitic minerals, which we believe invariably accompany the basalts of Europe, from the destitution, as in greenstone, of all foreign minerals, it will be more correct to consider, with some of the French mineralogists, these walls, as composed of basaltiform greenstone. One other peculiar formation remains to be noticed in this district. In Rockingham, a wedge-shaped assemblage of rocks enters between the rivers Dan and Mayo, from Virginia, and pass in a west-south-west direction to Germantown, in Stokes, where they terminate, apparently, in a point. These rocks appear to belong to a transition series, which traverses a great part, if not the whole breadth of Virginia. The rocks that distinguish this formation are the following, which we have abridged from the Reports before us. 1. Freestone, of a very fine quality, suitable for any of the purposes to which this rock is usually applied. 2. Coal. "A bed of pitcoal occurs only two or three hundred yards from the northern bank of Dan river, three miles below the Eagle falls. It is of the kind which is free from bituminous matter, and burns without flame [anthracite ?]-veins of coaly matter, resembling lamp black, are met with still further south, and the black slate rocks, of the whole district, are impregnated in a greater or less degree with the same. 3. Lignite-"But a more singular substance, which has been mistaken for coal, is found two miles east of Germantown. It consists of the remains of trees, sometimes lying scattered loosely over the ground, in small billets, sometimes presenting to view entire trunks, affording another example of a subterraneous forest similar to that found on the river Neuse. The fragments that are scattered over the surface, are frequently so much altered by exposure, that they resemble common petrified wood; but those specimens that are taken fresh from their bed, are invested with bark, perfectly reduced to coal, and of a shining black colour. "The best view of the Lignite is in the bed of a small river, near a saw-mill, where entire and very perfect trunks of trees are seen between the open layers of a coarse fragmented rock, very much resembling granite. These trunks lie parallel with each other, and appear between the rocks, formed, as though by compression, into flattened cylinders or ellipsoids, the diameters of the elliptical bases being respectively as 24 to 9. 4. Clays and Ochres.-These are abundant in almost every portion of the state, but are, perhaps, in this formation, superior to any which have been observed in other districts. 5. Slate. The slates of this district are black and impregnated with coaly matter; they contain also, a considerable portion of lime, and are traversed by small veins of limestone Rep. No. 2. pp. 126-8. Mineral springs, occur, as might be expected, in so large a district. The two most generally known, are the Catawba Springs in Lincoln county, and the Rockingham Springs in the county of the same name. Neither of them, however, are strongly impregnated with mineral solutions, and will owe their reputation more to their climate and scenery, than to their intrinsic qualities. Of the third mineral district of North-Carolina, our notice must be brief. It was not visited by Mr. Olmsted, whose Reports have hitherto, in a great measure, served us as guides-and our materials from other sources, are very incomplete. We have spoken of it as an extensive valley, or rather broken table land, between the Alleghany mountains (or Blue Ridge, as they are frequently called,) and the Bald and Iron mountains, which form the western limits of the state. In the southern division, however, the country seems rather composed of a series of mountainous ridges, with no regular direction, giving rise to the numerous branches of the Pigeon, the Tennessee and Hiwassee rivers-and we know few districts in the United States that offer greater temptations to the mineralogist and botanist, than the county of Haywood. The greater part of this district, as we have mentioned, is covered with transition rocks, limestone, sandstone or grey wacké; quartz, as usual, in great abundance and in many varieties; sulphat of Barytes; ores of lead more frequently than of any other metal, excepting, perhaps, iron, but no where discovered in such abundance as to be wrought; and fossils in great numbers and of many forms. The primitive rocks appear occasionally through this superincumbent covering, particularly in the south, but the predominant strata are all of a later series. In this review, which we have endeavoured to condense as much as perspicuity would admit, we have only noticed those substances which occur in large masses, and become conspicuous in the geology of the country, or those minerals which are important in their economical relation. We have, therefore, omitted to notice those which would be only prized for the cabinet, as exhibiting the varied and beautiful forms which nature has lavished on the mineral kingdom. When, however, to the many substances we have had occasion to notice in our preceding pages, we add the Zirconite and Jasper of Buncombe, the splendid Beryls of Burke, the Lazulite of Lincoln, the sky blue Sulphate of Barytes of Hillsborough, the Siliceous Minerals of Stokes, the Amethysts of Lincoln and Mecklenberg, the Tourmaline scattered over the western counties, and the fine varieties of Talc which are widely dispersed, we might readily believe, what has long been impressed on the mind of the writer of this article, that North-Carolina may be considered, whether we regard the variety or the value of her productions, as one of the richest mineral districts in the United States-surpassed by few countries of equal area in any portion of the globe. If then, we should inquire why the geology and mineralogy of North-Carolina has been so long neglected, it might be replied, that until within the last twenty years, no attention had been paid to these sciences in any portion of the United States. Mr. Olmsted shall add two other causes. "1st. Until recently, no professed mineralogist has ever resided in the state, and such travellers as had any pretensions to the science, have usually passed through the state in directions parallel to that of all of our geological formations. "2d. The face of the country every where eastward of the mountains, is marked by this strong peculiarity, that the rocks are not, as in most other countries, particularly in New-England, exposed on the surface, but are very generally concealed by a thick covering of clay and sand, and appear only in the beds of the rivers. Thus, a traveller might cross the great slate formation, (which, for its variety and the elegance of its productions, is not surpassed, probably, by any similar formation elsewhere) and still see so few ledges of rocks or precipices, and would observe the surface to be so generally unobstructed, that he might fancy himself to be journeying over an alluvial district. In the neighbourhood of Salisbury and Charlotte, the surface is, for the most part, occupied by a deep soil, with scarcely a rock to impede the plough; and yet this whole region is based on granite, which lies only a few feet below the surface." Rep. No. 2. p. 138. ART. X.-The Talisman, for 1828. New-York. E. Bliss. 18mo. WE need hardly inform our readers, that the species of works, of which the Talisman is a favourable specimen, has, within a few years, become much in vogue amongst us. The merit of originating these annual productions, in which the talents of the moralist, the poet, and the artist, are put in joint requisition, rests with the Germans. This book-making people, (we believe there are more volumes published annually in Germany, than in all Europe beside,) have had for many years, their annual Literary Almanacks; in the pages of which, articles from their most distinguished writers, have first seen the light. The English and French "caught the idea" from their neighbours; and at length, we, on this side of the Atlantic, find springing up amongst us, Souvenirs, Tokens, Memorials, Forgetme-Nots, &c. &c. in such abundance, that we are afraid the uses of their humbler weather-wise brethren, who offer themselves annually to our notice, at the modest price of six cents a piece, will be entirely superseded. "Poor Richard," with all his sage remarks, wonderful stories, new recipes, and old jokes, will no longer beguile the long winter evenings of our northern farmers; and "Hutchings Revived," despite his skill in yerbs and planetary lore, will die a natural death. It is not our wish to exalt any of the above mentioned meritorious works at the expense of the others. Indeed, as periodical personages ourselves, we entertain a fellow feeling and warm sympathy with them all. They are, in general, much above mediocrity, and come before the public, as fine as hotpressed paper, fair types, beautiful engravings, and splendid gilt backs and covers can make them. We wish them all success. On the festal occasions for which they are prepared, a variety is demanded; and the more there are of them, the greater opportunity for selection is given to the friend or lover, the old who wish to make glad the hearts of the young, or the young who desire to testify their regard for their seniors, by presenting these little memorials of affection. The competition, too, excited by their number, leads to an emulation among the artists of the same or different cities, which otherwise might lie dormant. Indeed, it is a fact, that the publication of the English Souvenirs, which has led our imitative brethren of the north to call forth the same description of talent, has materially improved |