The whole surface of the plain on which the mine is situated is thick, strewed with immense round blocks of granite, quartz, felspar, hornblende, and chlorite slate. But not a single rock is to be seen in sitz2 in the whole plain, except the two pyramids of quartz, in the exca vation of the mine formerly mentioned. But upon the higher grounds which surround Fahlun, especially to the west, rocks will be found exposed in considerable quantity. The rock which environs Fahlun is a parti cular kind of felspar, 'without exhibiting any quartz or mica which I was able to detect, though I pursued the course of the rock several miles. This rock is very much injured by the weather. I could not perceive any marks of stratification in it ; but as the direction of the high ground is from south to north, that is the direction in which only it can be traced. I observed three great veins of hornblende cutting through this rock, and run ning in an easterly and westerly direction. In one of these veins there was a bed of quartz eight inches thick. Each of the hornblende veins must have been at least six feet thick. 1 observed likewise several veins of quartz, not exceeding a few inches in thickness, running in the same direction with the hornblende veins.
The rocks on the cast side of the mine, at the dis tance of some miles, are gneiss. From the minerals that accompany the copper ore, such as actinolite, tre molite, chlorite, and from several other circumstances, I have little doubt that the mine consists, in fact, of a series of veins in mica slate. The vein-stones appear to consist chiefly of quartz.
Fahlun is the oldest, and for many years it was the most productive, mine in Sweden. It is known to have been wrought since the year 1347. Nor is there any reason to believe the working of it began only then, though no authentic records go to a greater antiquity.
In the year 1600 it yielded annually about eight mil lions of pounds of copper in the year ; but for some time back, the produce has been greatly diminished, and there is every reason to expect that no great num ber of years will elapse before it ceases altogether to be productive. Those gentlemen who have the manage ment of the mine, are sensible of this circumstance, and have been turning their attention to the iron mines in the neighbourhood, as a means of employing the work men when the copper mine shall be exhausted. The governor of the province, who is himself possessed of some iron mines, and who conceives that the inter ference of those gentlemen would be injurious to his trade, has endeavoured to prevent them from carrying their views into execution.
The copper mine of Fahlun is at present the pro perty of a considerable number of individuals. When the ore is brought to the surface of the earth, it is divid ed into different portions, according to the requisite shares of each individual. Every one is at liberty either to smelt his own ore in the way he thinks proper, or to dispose of it to those who are inclined to purchase it. From this method of proceeding it happens that there are a great many different smelting houses, and that each house conducts its processes upon a small and economical scale." Population of the town 6000. See Core's Travels, vol. v. ; Catteau Voyage en .911emagne et en Suede, vol. II. p. 292, Paris 1810 ; but particularly Thomson's Travels through Sweden, chap. xii. p. 216 ; and Plates ix. and x. of that work, which exhibit a ground plan of the copper mine, and likewise a perpen dicular section of it. (w)