Tino is a most interesting island for its mineralogy. The mountains consist chiefly of limestone that affords excellent marble, which is sent to Smyrna and Constantinople for gravestones. In the garden of the Italian Convent is a beautiful vein of asbestos running through serpentine, which imperceptibly becomes a kind of verde-antique: in the state of serpentine it appears stratified, and dips to the West at an angle of about 65°. A rich lead ore accompanies the numerous veins of quartz in sandstone. There is abundance of pyrites on the island, and octohedral crystals of iron.

The schistus at Tino, opposite to Andros, is well calculated for slates—which is not the case with that opposite to Myconi, which is too micaceous. On the North side of the island we find pistaziti in beautiful crystals. Several miles on the shore are covered with a black ferruginous sand. Wolfran also is found at Tino.