the ground, the whole surface has been removed from a large area by the Weardale Iron Company, and the rock absolutely quarried away, a considerable amount of lead ore being separated during the operation. The ore No. 2, of which the analysis will be given, is derived from the Rispey vein in Rookhope, a lateral valley opening into Weardale. Here, as elsewhere in the district, brown peroxide is often mingled with the sparry ore, especially near the surface, where it sometimes spreads over a width of 30, 40, or more feet. There is little doubt that the brown ore is due to the decomposition effected by atmospheric or anogenic action, and that it was all originally placed in situ in the condition of a carbonate. Remembering the high character of the iron which is produced from similar ores on the continent, more especially the celebrated "steel irons" of Siegen, and Styria, and Carinthia, it will be seen that the introduction of this ore into the Bri tish iron manufacture is a step of importance. Nor should it be forgotten, that till very recently it has been regarded as mere refuse during the working of the lead veins, and that larger quantities of it may reward farther research through these extensive moorlands. Mr. Charles Attwood of the Tow Law works, to whom is chiefly due the merit of testing the value of the sparry ores, states that he employs much less of it than he could wish, in consequence of the comparatively scanty population, and of the greater expense of getting as compared with the brown ore, and that he reserves it for making the very best and highest priced irons. When we look to the successive introduction of the various minerals which have filled these interesting veins, it is evident that the carbonate of iron has been one of the latest comers. Many of the specimens exhibit it investing as a crystalline incrustation the previously formed crystals of fluor spar and galena, and the striking manner in which it is often found to coat only those surfaces which face in a particular direction * is well worthy of attention in the study of these obscure phenomena. In other cases fragments either of the rocky sides of the fissure, or of a pre-existing vein, have been cemented together by the carbonate as a paste, and hence it ensues that whether introduced subsequently, or as in many instances simultaneously with other ores, it is very difficult to separate it from portions of galena and zinc blende in preparing it mechanically for the smelting furnace. The hæmatite (red iron ore, sesquioxide of iron) of Whitehaven, occurs in the carboniferous limestone near the outcrop or surface edge of the slaty rocks upon which that formation rests. The greater part of the excavations from which it is extracted are subterraneous, and so extensive is often the mass of iron ore in which the workings are carried, that it is difficult in such situations to obtain a clear idea of the nature of this important deposit. But at a place called Todholes, near Cleator, an open work has for some time been in operation, which throws great light on the subject. A slight anticlinal axis has brought the iron ore to within a small distance of the surface, and the superficial covering of 15 to 20 feet in thickness, which contains very numerous angular fragments of gray limestone in its lower portion, being removed, the red iron ore is worked as a quarry. The floor of the deposit is a white and red mottled shale, almost of the nature of a fire clay, and is evidently a bed belonging to the limestone series; bore holes have been sunk in it to a depth of 30 or 40 feet without meeting with any other material. The surface of this shale is very uneven on a large scale, although the actual planes are smooth, and frequent sudden depressions or ridges throw it up or down for a few feet, disturbances which appear to be regularly followed by the superimposed hæmatite. Between the shale and the iron ore there lies, very generally, a band of conglomerate, from 3 to 8 inches thick, of small pebbles of white quartz. The mag * See specimens in the Museum of Practical Geology, wall case 30. nificent bed of hæmatite which then follows, varies from 15 to upwards of 30 feet in thickness (rarely, as in Big Rigg Moor, as much as 60 feet), and is for the most part a dense mass of red ore subdivided by irregular and nearly vertical joints. Small cavities rarely occur, adjacent to which the ore assumes those botryoidal forms commonly termed "kidney ore," so well known in mineralogical cabinets, and which exhibit this mineral in a high state of purity. In such parts of the mass, rock crystals frequently occur, and calcareous spar and arragonite appear to be the substances which were last. crystallised in the hollows. With a general parallelism to the floor of the deposit, two and sometimes three bands of greenish black shale, from 1 to 8 inches thick, are distinctly interstratified with the iron ore; and the presence of these partings, with the overlying roof of impure limestone which makes its appearance on the dip, leaves on the mind almost a conviction that the hæmatite occurs as a true bed. And yet it is difficult to remain satisfied with the view of the regular contemporaneity of the ore with the limestone strata. In other mines of the district the presence of a definite and nearly vertical boundary along one side of the workings is more nearly akin to the phenomena of a vein, and it is very possible that a systematic examination of the whole group of localities might lead to the assigning of a later date for the introduction of the iron ore into chasms and hollows which had been formed in the already consolidated beds, and thus bring the nature of the repositories of Whitehaven into coincidence with the more clearly marked ores of Ulverstone. There seems occasionally to be a second bed, in a somewhat higher position, which rests upon a limestone floor; but hitherto so small an area has supplied the requirements of a single mine that the physical structure of the district is very imperfectly understood, both as regards the extent of these unrivalled deposits and their exact position among the members of the mountain limestone. A shaft which has recently been sunk at High House near Cleator, through a greater depth of cover than usual, yields the following section: When the ore is worked as a mine, galleries are driven out from the shaft 14 or 15 feet in height, forming "rooms" with substantial pillars left between them; and after a certain area has thus been prepared, the pillars are "robbed," the roof falls, and the surface of the land commonly gives way. The depressions which ensue and often become pools of water, with the crushing action on the neighbouring workings, render the last stages of the operation somewhat insecure, and necessitate special caution. A small proportion only of the ores of the Whitehaven district, is smelted on the spot. The coal of the neighbouring field is ill suited for smelting purposes; and the admirable coke of the Newcastle district has to bear so expensive a carriage that but one ironwork, that of the Whitehaven Hæmatite Iron Company, has, for some time past, been in action. This establishment, situated near Cleator, is placed close upon the edge of the coal field, and possesses three blast furnaces, smelting no other ore than that of the district, which the company purchases from its neighbours. Hot blast is employed, and a certain quantity of shale has to be added to the usual materials, in order to supply in conjunction with limestone the requisites for a slag. IRON ORE MASTERS OF THE WHITEHAVEN DISTRICT. 1. Ainsworth and Co., Cleator. 2. John Stirling, Todholes. 3. Messrs. S. and J. Lindow, Bigrigg Moor. 4. Anthony Hill, Bigrigg and Crowgarth mines. 5. Hesket Iron Ore Company, Hesketpit. 6. Richard Barker. 7. Henry Attwood and Son, Woodend and Berks mines. 8. Messrs. Tulk and Ley, Agnes and Yatehouse mines. 9. Parkside Mining Co., Parkside and Goosegreen mines. The quantity of hæmatite ore sent from Whitehaven by sea and by railway amounted in the year ending the 25th March 1855 to 192,312 tons, besides what was smelted in the three furnaces of the Iron Company at Cleator. On the north side of Morecambe Bay the promontory of Low Furness, between the slate hills which rise at the back of Ulverstone and the New Red Sandstone forming the site of the venerable ruins of Furness Abbey, is composed of the |