40^ Recent Discoxiet-y of Gold Mines 



navigable rivers, and wood, they offer a fairer promise Ifor 

 'British enterprise and capital, than any of the mining specula*- 

 tions in South America, many of which are situated in almost 

 inaccessible positions, far removed from supplies of food or fuel, 

 where the working must be attended with enormous expense,, 

 and where, from the instability of the government, the pro- 

 prietor can have little security for the permanent possession of 

 the mines, should they prove productive. Whether the Caro*., 

 lina Gold Mine Company have selected for their operations 

 the lands which will ultimately be the most productive in 

 valuable gold mines may be fairly doubted, as the gold dis- 

 tricts cover so large a portion of the country, and have not 

 jet been diligently and scientifically explored. The selection 

 has, most probably, been as well made as the present state 

 <)f information would admit of. The specimens of native 

 •gold which Dr. Macauly brought to England were very 

 numerpus : those from the sands of rivers consisted chiefly o|^ 

 gold nearly pure, and were generally unmixed with other 

 minerals; the pieces were somewhat flattened, and rounded, 

 varying in size from that of a pea to a large walnut. The 

 specimens of gold from veins were of various sizes, and more 

 err less intermixed with quartz, steatite, calcareous spar, iron 

 pyrites, and a reddish brown iron ochre, probably derived, 

 from the decomposition of pyrites. One was indeed a rich 

 specimen, weighing about 7 lbs., of which about 5 lbs. were, 

 nearly pure gold. The specimen was much flattened, as if 

 it came from the sid"© or cheek of the vein. In a country like 

 England, „ where gold, the representative of wealth, is most 

 :^ehtly^^ad6ihed^^s' the supreme deity, " with all the heart, ana 

 with all the mind, and with all the strength" of its votaries, 

 such a specimen was indeed a tempting object. In imitation 

 (^ffhe'^ fisherman at Athens, mentioned by Lucian, who with 

 a rod and line angles for different philosophers from the 

 tower of the temple of Minerva, baiting his hook with the ob- 

 jects best suited to the cupidity of each sect ; — I say, in imi- 

 tation of the Athenian fisherman, I recommend Dr. Macauly 

 to bore a hole through his specimen, and with a rod and line 

 suspend it from the gallery of the House of Commons, when 

 he would soon have numbers flocking round, and catching at 

 it ; crying out, " Ay, that is the right stuff for us ; that is the 

 true bait for John Bull !" Dr. Johnson, esteemed our great 

 moralist, says, of the influence of gold in England : — <* Wealth 

 commands the ear of greatness and the eye of beauty; gives 

 spirit to the dull, and authority to the timorous ; and leaves 

 him, from whom it departs, without virtue, and without under- 

 standing." V V.^'l 



