_Lead._--There are several localities of this mineral. A mine of it is wrought near New River, 15 miles from Wythe, Virginia. Another locality of the ore of lead is said to have been discovered in Granger County, Tennessee, on land belonging to General Cocke. It exists also, very near the surface, on the plantation of the Rev. Mr. Craighead, near Nashville; which, however, is out of our boundary. Other metallic ores are said to have been found among these mountains, and particularly those of gold and silver; but the accounts are vague and uncertain, and not to be credited. The numerous _Caves_ of this country present attractions to every, the least curious, traveller; and, in an eminent degree, to the mineralogist. They are crevices, or large chasms, probably worn in the rocks by the passage of water. This will, at first view, perhaps appear a bold assertion; but if it be recollected that they occur only in limestone, which is a soft rock, and (under certain circumstances,) soluble in water; that the rocks bear every mark of having been worn by water; and that streams of water are always found in them, it will not appear an improbable hypothesis. It is by no means difficult to believe that a stream, after having worn such a chasm as a cave presents, in the solid rock, may have found another channel; and, forsaking the old, have left room for nature to display some of her most beautiful works. A description of one of these caves will be a description of all; and we shall select _Wier's Cave_, in Rockingham County, Virginia, as it is the most curious of any with which we are acquainted. The entrance of the cave is narrow and difficult. When the cave was first discovered, the passage into it was impeded by stalactites, which had formed perpendicular columns across it; but these are now removed. As we advance, our course is at first horizontal, but we soon descend fifteen or twenty feet by a ladder, and find ourselves in a large echoing cavern. Stalactites of a silvery whiteness are suspended from above, and pillars of stalagmites are rising around us. Ledges of rocks form our floor, and the uneven walls are incrusted over with a beautiful brown spar, which is sometimes suspended from the canopy in thin, shining, and translucent sheets. In passing on over the rugged rock of our pathway, our attention is divided between a care for our safety, and an admiration of the surrounding wonders. Proceeding on through a narrower crevice in the rocks, we are soon introduced into other apartments, differing in shape and size from the first, but resembling it in the irregularity of its walls, floor, and covering, and in the calcareous incrustations and concretions, which, assuming a thousand fantastic shapes, and displaying a sparkling lustre, the more vivid as the light is stronger, give to this whole grotto the power of charming every beholder.