THE STRANGER.

room officers." A few moments sufficed to clear the || slightest touch, and move in unison with ours. Then table of its supply; and just as the last egg was disap- thought meets thought, and heart unites with heart! pearing, the captain's steward entered with a long coun- Surely nothing short of communion with the Father tenance, and announced the village searched fore and aft, of our spirits can afford so pure enjoyment-so perfect and not an egg, chicken, or loaf of bread to be had! bliss. Never were midshipmen better pleased; for once the reefers went to windward. As for lodging, one-half sat up all night, while the others rolled and tumbled on filthy mattrasses until morning. Next day we made an early start, and stringing along over the plain, arrived on board about mid-day. Thus terminated our trip to Anti-Paros; two days after, we sailed for Smyrna.

BY W. WEIGLEY.

cast an eye of composure upon their companions one hundred feet beneath the surface, while they carefully raise the precious metal over their heads!

The regulations of the mining country are principally of their own formation, and prevail as a species of common law among them. The government forTHROUGH the heart of the Mining Region flows the merly claimed a per centum on the discoveries of the majestic Father of Waters, the medium of commerce miner, which was afterwards, by some means, transferto the white man, and the object of superstitious vener-red to the smelter; but for several years there has been ation to the savage. On approaching that region, "nu- nothing paid by either. A miner's lot is 200 yards merous localities present a confused, but distinct and square, defined by four posts or corners; and the one rather unvarying character of civilization. Imperfect first making such claim holds it by common consent. nodules of silicious matter, masses of mammillary Work must be done upon it at least five days in the quartz, the crystals of which are often superinduced week; but in this respect the letter of the law is not upon chalcedonized concentric layers with an agate enforced. Should he work upon a lot, and leave it structure, indications of sulphate of barytes, with small || without "striking mineral,” he cannot, at a subsequent fragments of sulphate of lead in the rain furrows, betray the metallifferous rocks." The bluffs, on either side of the river, rise, like pyramids, to the height of several hundred feet, varied by the numerous tributaries which are constantly hurrying to empty themselves into the common channel. These prominences decline, as we leave the river, until the country, in a few miles, presents a gently undulating and healthy appearance. The soil of the mining region is of a very rich charac-mining country, is an imperfect metal, of a dull white ter, frequently sinking to the depth of three and four feet on the highest ridges. Indeed, a poor soil does not seem adapted to the growth of galena, or "mineral." It is interspersed with springs of the purest and best water. Though situated in 42° 30′ north latitude, good corn crops are raised. But little snow falls, and sleighing is supplied by ice on the Mississippi, which becomes very solid, and affords a jaunt of five hundred miles to the Falls of St. Anthony.

The extent of the mining region is not yet definitely ascertained. The surveys confine it to about 2500|| square miles. That the actual limits are much greater cannot be doubted, and the time is not distant when these treasures will be more extensively developed. There are other districts, not included in this limit, where indications exist, and discoveries have been made.

period, claim or defend it, as a discovery of mineral is absolutely necessary to constitute a "mineral lot." Miners, contiguously engaged, are expected to accommodate each other; and mutual assistance, at certain times, is rather claimed as a right than sought as a favor. Their deep sympathies, so manifest for each other, seem to be implied as a part of their regulations.

Lead, which is the grand source of wealth to the

color, inclining to blue, the least elastic and the least sonorous of metals. It possesses considerable specific gravity, reaching from 11.3 to 11.479. A few general remarks will follow upon the formations and combinations of lead, as treated of by mineralogists; noticing more particularly, that peculiar formation common to the Upper Mississippi Lead Mines.

1. In 1772 some small pieces of native lead were found in the county of Monmouth, in Wales. It has also been found in the lead mines of Pompean, near Rennes, in Brittany. It was very malleable, could be cut with a knife without crumbling, and easily melted over the flame of a candle. The existence of native lead had been previously questioned by mineralogists. 2. Lead spar is sometimes transparent, but generally opaque, and crystalized in regular forms of a laminar or triated texture. It contains some iron, calcareous earth, and clay; and grows red or yellowish when heated. It will effervesce with acids, and affords from 60 to 80 per cent. of lead. It is found in Brittany, Lorrain, Germany and England.

An impression seems to have obtained with many, that the persons engaged in mining are generally a set of ignorant fellows, of the baser sort, many of whom resort there to avoid the penalty of the law elsewhere. This impression, no doubt, was gathered from the char- 3. Arsenical Lead Spar. This is difficult to melt, acter of many engaged on the public works. It is, how- refusing to yield to the blow-pipe; but has been reduever, a mistake. Our country boasts not a more worthy ced in the crucible. It is highly charged with arsenic, class of men than the miners of the Upper Mississippi. which appears, when reduced, in the form of grains So far from ignorance or crime having driven them dispersed and forced into the lead. It has been found there, intelligence and enterprise drew them. The|| in Germany, and contains about 40 per cent. of lead. choice of almost every country in the world may be 4. The Bley Glanz of the Germans contains lead found in the mines. A large number of the miners performed the first manual labor in a "mineral-hole." Nor startle, gentle reader, when I inform you, that ladies of no mean origin, have volunteered to assist their enterprising, but unfortunate husbands, in their search for mineral! To have peeped into a well in by-gone days, would have dizzied the brain; but now they can

mineralized with sulphur alone, and of this there are two or three varieties. At Villach, in Austria, there is said to be found a potter's lead ore, containing not the smallest portion of silver.

5. Lead mineralized by the vitriolic acid. Is generally in the form of a white mass, soluble in 18 times its quantity of water. It originates from the decomposition

of sulphurated lead ores. It is found in great quanti- || appearing like mica, composed of white and very brilties in the island of Anglesey.

6. Lead mineralized by the phosphoric acid. It is of a greenish yellow, or reddish color, and will effervesce with acids. Seven ounces of this lead ore, from the neighborhood of Friburg, yielded, by distillation, 144 grains of phosphorus. A similar compound to this ore may be obtained by mixing pure phosphoric acid with red lead.

7. Antimonial lead ore. The metal is mineralized by sulphur, with silver and regulus of antimony-of a bluish dark lead color; and of a radiated, filamentous, or striated texture. It yields from 40 to 50 per cent. of lead, and from one half to two ounces of silver per quintal.

8. Pyritous lead ore-mineralized by sulphur, with silver and a large proportion of iron; of a brown or yellowish color. It affords only 18 or 20 per cent. of lead, which is obtained only by melting it, the iron detaining the sulphur. It is only a mixture of galena with the brown pyrites.

9. Lead mineralized by arsenic, has been found in Siberia; of a pale color externally, but internally of a deep red. It is, for the most part, crystalized in irregular pyramids. It contains sulphur, arsenic, and about 34 per cent. of lead. It is supposed to contain some silver.

liant scales. It is called white silver ore, because it contains a considerable quantity of that metal. 5. Small grained galena, so called because it has a very close grain. It is likewise very rich in silver, and is found with the foregoing ore. No galena except that of Carinthia, is known to be without silver; but it has been observed, that those which afford the most silver have the smallest facets. Galena crystalized like lead spar, in hexagonal prisms or cylindrical columns, contains little silver, and seems to be merely spathose of lead, mineralized without having lost its form.

For the foregoing description of the varieties of lead ore, I am indebted, chiefly, to the Edinburgh Encyclopedia.

Lead is among the most useful metals. In Holland and other places, it has been used to correct the most offensive expressed oil, as that of rape-seed, and the rancid oils of almonds and olives, by impregnating them with lead. A similar abuse has also been practiced with acid wines, which dissolves as much of the lead as communicates a sweetish taste. It is used in the manufacture of glass, and possesses great efficacy in dissolving earthy bodies. It is employed in making various vessels, as cisterns for water, large boilers for chemical purposes, &c. The pewterers mix it with tin, which is said to be a dangerous process. Tin has 10. Stony, or sandy lead ores, consist either of the been sold in France containing 25 pounds in the 100. calciform or galena kind, intimately mixed and diffused Though a very useful, yet lead is a very dangerous through stones and earth, chiefly of the calcareous or metal. When taken into the human body, it produces barytic genus. Sometimes it is mixed with clay. various disorders, particularly a cholic, known in the 11. Galena, or potter's ore, in which the metal is min-mines as the "mineral sickness." This is the case eralized by sulphurated silver. This is the most common of lead ores; a species of which is peculiar to the Upper Mississippi Lead Mines. It is of a dark bluish color, formed of cubes of a moderate size, or in grains of a cubic figure, whose corners have been cut off; its texture lamellar, and its hardness varying in different specimens. That which is formed into grains is supThe mineral is found from 15 to 200 feet below the posed to be the richest in silver; but even this contains surface. It varies in different districts of the mining only about one or one and a half per cent.; that is, region. In the "clay-diggings," so called, a body of about 12 or 18 ounces per quintal; and the poorest not red clay, mixed with mammillary quartz, called “minabove 60 grains. Ores that yield about half an ounce eral blossom," and petro-silicious stones, forms the first of silver per quintal are barely worth the extracting. indication. In these diggings, the galena is found imDifferent specimens also vary in the quantity of sulphur | bedded in clay of an oaken cast, surrounded by various they contain, from 15 to 25 per cent., and that which contains the least is in some degree malleable. The proportion of iron in this ore is very small, but the lead is from 60 to 85 per cent. It is completely dissolved by nitrous acid when diluted. The specific gravity of galena is from 7.000 to 7.780. It yields a yellow flag when melted.

Mineralogists divide this ore into several varieties: 1. Cubic galena, the cubes of which are of various sizes, and found either single or in groups; it is often found with the angles truncated, and is common at Freyberg. 2. In masses, without any regular configuration; very common at St. Maria. 3. With large facets. It does not compose regular crystals, but is entirely formed of large lamina. 4. With small facets,

with those who are engaged in smelting it and are frequently exposed to its fumes. The miners are never afflicted with this disease. These poisonous fumes infect the grass and water in the immediate vicinity of a smelting furnace, so as to produce mineral sickness in cattle, and the fish die in the streams.

strata of earth. In the rock-diggings a crevice is formed by the great Architect of the universe, with perpendicular walls on either side, and covered with a rock varying from one foot to fifty feet in thickness. These crevices are always found running east and west, and north and south, crossing at right angles, and showing a variation in the different districts, of 15 or 20 degrees. In o instance are both of these crevices fruitful; but when one is large and fruitful, the other is small and barren. In a particular district one of these crevices will be invariably the fruitful one. In those diggings, known as the "Galena diggings," the north and south crevices bear the mineral; and in the Dubuque diggings the reverse. This peculiar formation, as well as many indications which my limits will not

permit me to mention, greatly assists the miner in pros- || west of Galena, 15 miles by land, and 25 by water, on ecuting his discoveries. Knowing that the galena the west side of the Mississippi; and is the county-seat ranges east and west, he sinks his shaft and runs his drift north and south.

of Dubuque county, Iowa territory. This is one of the handsomest situations on that vast river. It is surrounded by a rich farming country, and inexhaustible lead mines. The Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists, have organized societies. The two former have places of worship. The Roman Catholics are very numerous there. About $20,000 of foreign money have been spent by the Bishop, who makes his residence in Dubuque. The white settlements extend about 60 miles west, and within two days' ride, range the elk and buffalo. It contains about 2000 inhabitants.

Plattville is a beautiful inland village, situated 25 miles north of Galena, in Wisconsin territory. It is in the midst of a rich farming and mining region. It has a spacious Methodist chapel, with a commodious basement story for school purposes. The society is good; but few Roman Catholics in the vicinity. It contains about 800 inhabitants.

The God of nature has hid these treasures in the earth, without leaving upon the surface a single trace of the immediate deposit. Every miner, however, is full of schemes to detect them. Many a long and tedious search has been made for what is ycleped the "mineral weed;" and hard by the spot where it grew, the faithful shovel and pick have opened a way to the bowels of the earth; but all to no purpose. The miner, before commencing a hole, views the ground-fondly imagines that he sees the ground depressed upon the very spot where the mineral below, by its weight, has sunk the earth beneath it. He toils faithfully, till experience proves him disappointed. Not a clue has Providence given to these "hid treasures." Those skilled in mining are by no means the most likely to select the best place. It is, I believe, generally admitted, that a "green hand" will succeed best at "pros- Mineral Point is about 40 miles north of east from pecting;" but when he finds the mineral, a knowledge Galena, in Wisconsin territory. Its principal depenof mining is absolutely necessary to work it to advan-dence is the rich mining country with which it is surrounded. The situation rather unpromising. Religtage. To an uninterested observer, the occupation of a mi-ious denominations small, and Roman Catholics nuner would appear like mere drudgery; and its facinating merous. It contains near 1000 inhabitants. character can only be apprehended by one who has "struck a prospect," and worked for weeks apparently within a few feet of the possession of thousands. Never did a gambler wait more anxiously the result of a game, upon which his all depended, than does the miner under such circumstances. His labor ceases to be toil. Suddenly opening a "pocket" in the rock, and finding ait; and those larger and better bodies of mineral which piece of pure mineral, the welcome indicative of a large body below, every nerve becomes strung-whilst, every few minutes, from his faithful partner at the windlass, he hears and answers the significant interrogations, "What's the prospect?" "Are you through the rock?" "Think you're on the cap-rock?" and fifty other inquiries from the man who has almost strained his eyes to see what is going on 100 feet below him.

The future prospects of the mining region open a large field for conjecture. That the mines are inexhaustible, will be questioned by none. That the process of mining is yet in infancy, cannot be doubted. And such is the increasing demand for lead, that greater exertions will be made every succeeding year to procure

lie hid in the water, will eventually be taken out by means of levels drove into the base of towering bluffs. The improvement in the science of mining has already been great. When the English miners first came to the mines, they went into the very "diggings" which our inexperienced diggers supposed to be exhausted, and made fortunes. The improvement in the process of smelting has been as great. Nothing but the ashes

The principal towns in the mining region, are Gale- of the old log furnaces remain. The country is fast na, Dubuque, Plattville, and Mineral Point.

Galena is situated on Fever or Bean river, which is rendered navigable by back-water from the Mississippi, seven miles from its mouth. Though always accessible to steamboats, the site of Galena is far from being desirable. Situated against a bluff, it has only two streets which run parallel with the river. It has two court-houses, a jail and hospital. The schools are good. The Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Baptists and Catholics, have organized societies and chapels. Galena lies about eight miles south of the fine of Wisconsin territory, and is the grand commercial point for the country north. It contains about 3000 inhabitants. Dubuque was named after an old Frenchman, whose tomb can be seen by the traveler ascending the Mississippi, upon the summit of one of the highest bluffs, where his remains were placed in a leaden coffin, which some ruffians have since stolen. It is situated north

improving in agriculture, and will not only provide for the mining consumption at home, but will ship large quantities of produce abroad. In a word, it seems destined to class among the richest portions of the world. Juliet, Will county, Ill., May 25, 1841.

DEATH TYPIFIED BY A ROSE. So have I seen a rose newly springing from the clefts of its hood, and, at first, it was fair as the morning, and full with the dews of heaven, as a lamb's fleece; but when a ruder breath had forced open its virgin modesty, and dismantled its too youthful and unripe retirements, it began to put on darkness, and to decline to softness and the symptoms of a sickly age; it bowed the head, and broke its stalk; and at night, having lost some of its leaves, and all its beauty, it fell.-Bishop Taylor.

Original.

THE OCEAN.

BY JOHN E. EDWARDS.

THE moment in which I caught a first glimpse of the far-distant waves of old ocean, rolling in sublimity before me, can never be forgotten. Some hair-breadth escape from the fang of a poisonous serpent, or the jaws of the voracious crocodile, might possibly be erased from the memory, by the obliterating hand of time; but while the faintest trace of past events remains uneffaced upon the tablet of my memory, the moment just referred to will be vividly remembered by

me.

Since that juncture, many a sorrow has visited my bosom-many a tedious day has rolled into eternity-many and varied have been the scenes that have passed before me; but still a recollection of that event is as clear to my mind as are the occurrences of yesterday; and as I look back to it, through the dim vista of by-gone days, emotions of a pleasing nature are excited in my bosom.

I had been cradled in one of the pleasant villages that skirts the blue hills of my native state; and when but a boy I had often sighed and wished to see the ocean. The thundering cataract, the deep, wild forest, the verdure-clad plains, the long sweeping valley, the reverberating echoes of the maddened thunder as it leaped among the mountain crags, the lightning scathed rock, blackened and broken-all these were things familiar to my juvenile mind; but I turned away from the contemplation of scenery that would have enchanted the eye of an artist, and sighed in disquietude, because my remoteness from the ocean had denied me the privilege of strolling upon its wave-lashed shore, and listening to the music of its eternal song.

smile upon the white clouds of canvass that moved
like spectres along the bosom of the deep, I have stood
and gazed out upon the rolling ocean, with a rapture
that is indescribable. From the point of vision the
winding shore stretched away to the right and left, as
far as the aching eye could follow its sinuous course;
while the ever-dashing surf, like successive wreaths of
snow, rolled upon the sandy beach, and foamed, and
sparkled in the last rays of the setting sun.
But the sun has often gone down, and left me still
upon the restless waters; the winds have retired to
their caves, the curlew has ceased to scream along the
blast, and a stillness has come over "the deep, deep
sea." Night has approached as softly and silently as
the snow-flake falls upon the bosom of the rolling
stream. The white winged bark that seemed to linger
for awhile upon the farthest verge of vision, has been
gradually concealed from the view, as the sky and ocean
seemed to mingle and blend beautifully together, like
the lights and shades in a well executed painting.
"The sea, the open sea," has been spread out before
me, when nought has been heard upon the evening
breeze, save the solemn roar of the surf, or the startling
shriek of the sea-bird, as it flapped its dripping pinion
in lonely solitude over the briny deep.

Nothing is more impressive than to stand alone at nightfall upon the silent shore, and commune with the ocean-buried-to stand and think of the millions upon millions of our race who have been plunged beneath the wave, and found their last resting place in the caverns of the deep-to call to mind the unnumbered thousands who have gone down to their coral beds amidst the howlings of the storm, and the shrieks of despair-to muse on the bright eyes, the beautiful forms, and golden ringlets that lie forgotten in the sea! O, what melancholy reflections are awakened in the

mournful destiny of the Pulaski, and the more recent loss of the steam-ship President! How many of the lost had thoughts of home and friends-the nearest friends-to come over the mind, just as the wave charged with their destiny swept them into eternity! But I forbear.

Time rolled on, and the wish so long and so anx-mind at the recollection of the fate of the Home, the iously desired, was at last realized; and, for the moment, it seemed that my every wish was gratified. All that I had read in the poets, and other fine descriptive writers, about the wide expanse of waters, at once rushed upon my mind, and especially that celebrated apostrophe of a well known poet, to the ocean, in which he says,

"Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll." Sometimes I have seen the ocean lashed by the raYes, that was the idea that first occurred to my mind-ging tempest, until its lofty foam-capt billows seemed to "roll on-roll on;" and the thought was carried out in brush the clouds; and when the mountain surges, beatthe language of a justly praised American poet

"And there it rolls! Age after age has swept

Down, down the eternal cataract of time; Men after men on earth's cold bosom slept, Still there it rolls, unfading and sublime."

PRENTICE.

Since that time I have frequently rambled upon the shell-paved strand, at the close of day, when sun-set streamed along the west, and felt that

"There is a rapture on the lonely shore-
There is society where none intrudes-
By the deep sea-and music in its roar."

At such an hour, while the sun has yet lingered upon
the golden verge of the horizon, painting a parting
Vol. I.-31

ing violently upon the shore, have been "dashed into feathery clouds of foam," white as the driven snow. Again, I have seen it when its wild tempest music was hushed, its billows lulled to repose, and when scarce a ripple broke upon the sand. In this quiet state there may possibly have been seen a gentle swell-something like the heavings of an infant's bosom, when sweetly slumbering. Then its polished surface, like a boundless mirror, reflected distinctly and minutely the vessel that stood motionless upon its bosom. Indeed, the azure vault of heaven, the solitary bird on the wing, and every object above the waters, were as clearly seen in the waveless deep, as above its surface.