Occurs in masses; earthy and loose; can be broken by the fingers, and soils; no lustre; melted with borax makes a violet glass; feels very light. VALUE.--Used in bleaching and for making smalt. LOCALITIES.--Found in low places, generally in the vicinity of slate or iron ore beds. Warren, Vt.; Blue Hill, Hodgdon and Thomaston, Me.; Columbia and Duchess Counties, Austerlitz, Canaan Centre and Martinsburg, N. Y.; East Bradford and White Marsh, Pa.; Mine la Motte, Mo. 77.--WILLEMITE. Occurs in crystals and masses; feeble lustre; brittle; can hardly be cut with a knife; sometimes scratches glass; makes a jelly in muriatic acid; gravity 4. VALUE.--Contains seventy per cent. of zinc. LOCALITIES.--Found in limestone with _zincite_. Franklin and Sterling, N. J. 78.--ZINCITE. Occurs in foliated masses or grains, powder orange-yellow; brittle; dissolves in acids without effervescence; gravity 5.5. VALUE.--Yields seventy-five per cent. of zinc. LOCALITIES.--Found in limestone with _Franklinite_, _Garnet_, etc. Sterling Hill and Mine Hill, N. J. [Illustration: decorative image] CHAPTER IV. PROSPECTING FOR DIAMONDS, GOLD, SILVER, COPPER, LEAD AND IRON. MINERAL RICHES, HOW DISCOVERED--INDICATIONS--SEARCHING FOR DIAMONDS, AND HOW TO DISTINGUISH THEM--PAYING LOCALITIES OF GOLD--“FOOL’S GOLD”--PROSPECTING FOR SILVER AND COPPER--WHERE TO LOOK FOR LEAD AND IRON. The mineral riches of a country are frequently discovered by attentively observing the fragments brought down by the action of water from the hills into the valleys; and on tracing these to their several sources, the veins from which they were originally detached, are in many instances found. Water also acts in another way a very important part in the discovery of mineral veins, as by closely examining the faces of the different gullies and ravines, which intersect a country, a ready means is afforded of ascertaining whether its strata are traversed by metalliferous deposits; and, therefore, in exploring with a view to its mineral productions, no opportunity should be lost of observing the various sections thus naturally laid bare. When fragments of an ore are found on a hill-side, it is very evident that the vein must lie higher up. If the vein is horizontal and the fragments are found on the top of the hill, there is no probability of finding much if any of the vein, for generally it has been washed away. Ore-veins, however, are almost always nearly vertical; so that boring is of little use, as it might pass by the richest vein, or, striking it lengthwise, give a too favorable result. As heavy minerals do not drift far, metals are always found near their source. Horizontal beds can be worked at the least cost. Pockets and nodules, or any detached masses of minerals, are soon exhausted. Veins, lodes and beds are most valuable.