GEOLOGY. 301 



former being below, and of the latter double that of gold ; almost all of 

 this fine gold was at first of so white a color that it was considered 

 probable the circumstance might be owing to the presence of a very 

 large proportion of silver ; some of the larger pieces also obtained 

 were spotted white from the same supposed cause ; but, Mr. Hunt, on 

 heating this white gold, found that it quicklv turned to a o-ood o-olden 



O O , ' , B O G 



yellow, and that the discoloration was occasioned by a thin coating of 

 mercurial amalgam. As the spots w r ere perceived on some of the 

 larger pieces immediately on their being first obtained on the shovel, 

 it is supposed they must have been spotted with the mercury while 

 still undisturbed in the drift ; and as no mercury had been used on 

 the ground, it leads to the supposition that some ore of mercury may 

 possibly be one of the mineral products of the country, though not a 

 grain of cinnabar, the commonest form of the ores of mercury, has been 

 observed in the gravel. Among the substances obtained in separating 

 the gold, lead shot of various sizes, from partridge to swan shot, has 

 been nearly as abundant as the gold. Xot a vanning was made of the 

 concentrated material without obtaining some of it ; its presence is no 

 doubt due to the operations of those who have followed the chase, and 

 to judge from the quantity of the shot the place must have been one of 

 favorite resort. Whether the hunters may at any time have brought 

 quicksilver with them and spilt it, is a question that cannot be deter- 

 mined. 



The Geologist concludes, from the evidence collected, that the de- 

 posites are not generally sufficiently rich to render their working re- 

 munerative to unskilled labor; and that the agriculturist and others 

 engaged in ordinary occupations of the country, would only lose their 

 time and labor by turning gold hunters. 



GOLD AND ITS PRODUCTION. 



FIVE years have hardly elapsed since the gold yield in California 

 became a fixed fact, and within that short period of time between a 

 hundred and ninety and two hundred millions worth of gold dust has 

 been added to the wealth of the world, and a trade has sprung up 

 between the Atlantic States and San Francisco of the greatness of 

 which some idea may be indirectly formed, from the fact that the im- 

 ports from all other parts of the world to that port have increased 

 from three and a half millions in 1851, to ten and a half millions in 

 1852. The California movement has made its influence felt all over 

 the world ; but now even California itself seenies to be eclipsed and 

 outstripped in its productiveness by the more recent and more magni- 

 ficent discoveries of gold fields in Australia. They completely throw 

 into the shade all the mines of Peru, Mexico, or California, S. 

 extensive are the gold deposites distributed in Australia, that the very- 

 streets of Melbourne are found, in a manner, to be paved with them, 

 The broken quartz rocks which have been used to MacAdamize the 

 streets are found to contain 



