, 1888-01-07
DISCOVERY IN SABA.
(LdqRtbourae'8 Mail Notes.
Dear Mr.. EDITOR
SABA, Dec. both 1887

A''h
Allow me through your valuable little
paper to give those VINO take an interest
in the affairs Of our little island a bit of
news. | suppose everybody has heard
that there are places in Sab where mine
rails nave been found. There are two pla-
ces situated on the opposite sides of a hill
on the sOuth east part of the island from
which, from time to time, samples have
been taken and sent away to be anajYz0d.
About two years ago a barrel Of sam DleI
from one OF these places WAS sent t. q
chemical laboratory III Boston, aud when
aSSayed was found to contain gold, silver
and copper to the amount of S46 IN the
ton. The owners of the place knew before
this that it contained minerals, as it had
been previously pxAminel bV many miners
aud gp0logiStS, all Of whom gave it az
their opinion that it did, bur they did 1T
know what the minerals really were. BY
he way it is the plaC' SIP pken OF by
Charles Kingsley in his book Eat last"
H. Onlv SAW it While passing the island IN
a steamer. hut he says that it Is u place
we'll worth the examination OF 4 grOl0GlSt.
OF course he did not know that it contain
ed minerals, and only spoke of it in regard
to geological structure. Well the result
of this analysis WAS to make the owners
KEEL duljIlG III IVdl Cdl HtNb " S6' N'tli NM
done. Two of them. Capt. John L Johnson
and Capt. Rich ,rd HasSe ELL went to New
York to see it they could fnd II company
to take the thing up, but, after having hid
som more Spt cimenS aSSayed, which gave
a similar result to the first, they returned
without e~tfecting anything. They came
back, however, with the intention of min
ing at their own cost about 20 tons. to he
sent to New York for smelling. This of
course, if it had been done, would haVt
decided something, rs it would have pro.
we'd whether there WAS plenty OF it or not,
and whether a large quantity could give
tine. same return as the barrel gave. Bat
they did not succeed in getting y stuff :irnt
quantity to ship, as there was n great deal
OF drift TO be cleared off before the mine
raj could he reached. After this Capt.
HaSSrll went back to New York and sue
Ceeded IN interesting Messrs Ennis & Co,
q house doing business in iron ores, in the
matter. This house Immediately sent ont
q first rate mining engineer and geOIogiSt
(whO was accompanied by a partner ct the
firm to Examine the place, which he did
thoroughly. OF course nobody has seen
his report, but from his talking we all
know that it is highly favourable. These
gentlemen left Saba on the 10Th inst. for
st. Thomas. there to take the steamer for
New York, and everybody is naturally
waiting amXiOuSly to hear what they have
decided. This We shall soon know. There
is one thing Fortunate for Saba in this
affair, and that is its being under so liberal
a Government as that of Holland, which
ii is quite certain will do all that a wise
Government ought to do to facilitate ant
encourage the development Of the mineral
resources of the island.
Thanking you for your space, and hop.
ing to be able to give your readers som
more news about the matter soon.
| remain etc, etc,
r. L. HASSELL.