15 (p. 69).--Champlain's statement, here referred to, is in his _Voyages_ (Prince Soc.), vol. ii., p. 16: "From Long Island passage we sailed north-east two leagues, when we found a cove where vessels can anchor with safety [Little River, on Digby Neck, St. Mary's Bay].... In this place there is a very good silver mine, according to the report of the miner, Master Simon, who accompanied me." He adds: "Quarter of a league from here [the place now known as Sandy Cove] there is a good harbor for vessels, where we found an iron mine, which our miner estimated would yield fifty per cent. Advancing three leagues farther on, to the north-east [probably near Rossway], we saw another very good iron mine, near which is a river surrounded by beautiful meadows. The neighboring soil is red as blood." Nova Scotia is rich in minerals of many kinds, and is one of the chief mining districts of the Dominion. Murdoch says (_Nova Scotia_, p. 3): "The discovery of gold, along the whole Atlantic shore of the peninsula of Nova Scotia, has taken place chiefly since I began this work in 1860; and it now gives steady remunerative employment to about 800 or 1,000 laborers, with every expectation of its expansion." In 1895, there were in this province 37 mines, yielding 22,112 ounces of gold. It is estimated that gold may be found in an area of from 5,000 to 7,000 square miles; but less than forty square miles have as yet been worked. The industry supports 3,000 to 4,000 persons. From 1862 to 1895, the total yield was 602,268 ounces, the average value of the ores during that time being $14.50 a ton. Copper is mined to some extent. Gesner says, in _Industrial Resources of Nova Scotia_ (Halifax, 1849), p. 289: "Thin seams of copper ore are seen in the red sandstones of Minudie. At Tatmagouche, Carriboo, and the rivers of Pictou, small deposits of the sulphuret and green carbonate of copper have been found among the strata of the coal series." An interesting statement on this subject is made in a "Memoir upon Acadia," written in 1735, by one Duvivier, a descendant of Charles de la Tour, and cited by Murdoch (_Nova Scotia_, vol. i., pp. 508-511): "In the seigneurie of Mines, which is six leagues square (and belongs to the family [of La Tour's descendants] with donations of mines, etc.), a lead mine, a considerable silver mine, an especial mine of red copper of a color like gold, and one of another metal, the value of which is not known to the Sr. Duvivier or anybody.... The English having obtained likewise the knowledge of a copper mine resembling gold, at a place called Beaubassin, joining to Mines, have sent thirty miners there, with an officer, according to the report of one Fougère. They have formed a company for this undertaking, in which the Governor, Lieutenant du Roi, and Major are secretly interested, to establish there a so-called copper work."