I speak of the uses to which, they are applied by man, for surely you ought to know more about human works than a gnome. I shall merely allude to the states in which the metals occur in these subterranean regions, for you must know that they are seldom to be met with in a state of purity." The little man of metal now takes off his helmet, and, drawing his tiny legs under him into a comfortable position, speaks as follows:—
"The metals nearly always occur in the crude state of ores. These ores are sulphides, oxides, and carbonates mingled with earthy impurities, generally situated in fissures or rents in the rocks, which are called veins or lodes. I may as well inform you at once, that these fissures are produced by the upheaval and depression of the rocks which they traverse. The internal fires of this wonderful planet sometimes exert a force sufficient to raise vast masses of rock, of unknown but immense thickness, from the bottom of the sea high into the air, in order to form dry land; you may easily imagine, therefore, that this force is also sufficient to crack and rend the earth's crust in every direction, and thus form the veins in which the metallic ores are deposited.
"The respective metals do not always lie in separate veins, for though one metal generally predominates, three, four, or even more metals may be strangely combined and intermixed in the same veinstone; thus, the vein which contains lead as
