'* ■« ■! ,1^ J" ii " }} '^ » i f " " __'_"_'' 



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GEOLOGY, 



THE GOLD-riELD AND GOLD-DIGGINGS OP OEAWTOED- 

 LmDSAY (LANAKKSHIEE). 

 , By W. LAUDER LINDSAY, M.D., F.R.S.E., F.L.S. 



( Continued from page 214.) 



I THOUGHT it right, in the last number of the ' Scottish 

 Naturahst,' in describing the gold-field and gold-diggings 

 of the Crawford-Lindsay district of Lanarkshire, to confine my- 

 self to their present co7idition and modern history, believing that 

 these would have more of an immediate interest to all students of 

 the natural history of native gold in Scotland than their ancient 

 or medieval history. But I mentioned at the same time that, in 

 many respects, the ancient history of these diggings is much more 

 important, instructive, and suggestive, than that which is modern ; 

 and the correspondence I have had since I committed to paper 

 what I had to say regarding the present condition and prospects 

 of the Crawford-Lindsay gold-field leaves me in no doubt that 

 there are certain circumstances brought out by that ancient his- 

 tory that have the most intimate bearing on current researches — 

 not mineralogical or geological only, but also historical, archaeo- 

 logical, and numismatological. 



Of these points of interest, the most important I believe to be 

 the evidences that present themselves showing that what have 

 been described since the year 1125 as "gold-mynes" in Scotland 

 refer merely to surface diggings, to the sinking of pits or shafts in 

 superficial drifts, to the washing of the clays, gravels, or sands 

 that form the beds, haughs, or terraces of streams, or that cover 

 the flanks of hills. 



There are evidences also of mining proper — of the working and 

 crushing o{ auriferous quartz; though these evidences are neutral- 

 ised — to a certain extent, if not altogether — by certain counter- 



