The Rock
Is Crushed, Washed, Sorted Out By Hand, To Remove The Foreign
Substances, Then Ground And Subjected To Acids, And At The End Of The
Process It Is As White And Fine As The Best Bolted Flour.
This heavy
adulterant is shipped to the North in large quantities, - the manager
said he had recently an order for a hundred thousand dollars' worth
of it.
What is the use of this powder? Well, it is of use to the
dealer who sells white lead for paint, to increase the weight of the
lead, and it is the belief hereabouts that it is mixed with powdered
sugar. The industry is profitable to those engaged in it.
It was impossible to get much information about our route into
Tennessee, except that we should go by Paint Rock, and cross Paint
Mountain. Late one morning, - a late start is inevitable here,
- accompanied by a cavalcade, we crossed the river by the rope ferry,
and trotted down the pretty road, elevated above the stream and
tree-shaded, offering always charming glimpses of swift water and
overhanging foliage (the railway obligingly taking the other side of
the river), to Paint Rock, - six miles. This Paint Rock is a naked
precipice by the roadside, perhaps sixty feet high, which has a large
local reputation. It is said that its face shows painting done by
the Indians, and hieroglyphics which nobody can read. On this bold,
crumbling cliff, innumerable visitors have written their names. We
stared at it a good while to discover the paint and hieroglyphics,
but could see nothing except iron stains.
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