Difcovery cf Native Goid hi Inland, 22 J^ 



matter. W£re to be traced in various fliadcs of the fame colour, which, like the zones of the 

 antique alabafter, curve round and follow the form of the fhell. The purer matter of this . 

 fpar has penetrated the (hells, and in their interior hollows has. formed a lining of fmall 

 cryftals, generally colourlefs, and perfciSlly tranfparint. 



I have beftowed more time in endeavouring to defcribe the compofition and the real 

 fituation in this concretion of bones than the. fubjccl, in tha eftfmation of many, will feem 

 to deferve, and, indeed, more than it deferves in my own opinion ; but where an erroneous ■ 

 t^inion, has obtained a footing in confequence of inaccurate obfcryations and partial de- 

 foription, .,it is the duty .of every new obfcrver to endeavour to corre£l it. 



VI. 



Accounts of the Dtfcovery of Native Gold in Ireland. 



H E public attention was a few years ago greatly excited by the important mineralogi- 

 cal difcovery of native gold in Ireland; foon after which accounts were fent to the Royr.'. . 

 Society. (Phil. Tranf. 1796.) It may caQly be imagined, that thcfe works, muft have been i 

 fufpended by the convulfions which at prefent agitate that unhappy kingdom. But as I hope ■ 

 by enquiry to afcertain what has been done fince the original difcovery, which from its in- 

 tereft and <:uriofity is highly defer ving of. attention,. I fhall hereprclciit the fubftaace of thefcs 

 accounts to my readers with very little abridgement. 



John Lloyd, Efq. of Havodynos, gave the following account, dated November • the 

 4th, 1795: 



About feven miles weftward of Arklow, ialhe county of Wicklow, there is a very high' 

 hill, perhaps fix or {^-zi^ hundred yards above the fea, called Croughan KinQielly, one of whofc . 

 N. E. abutments or- buttrefles is called Balinnagore, to wlwch the afcent may be: made in. 

 half or three quarters of an hour.- In J-acob Nevill's map of the coi:nty.of Wicklow, puh-> 

 lifhed in 1760, by carting your eye oi> the river Ovo, which runs -by Arklow, 3t:.aboiat four 

 miles above the latter place, you will perceive the-conflux of two confiderable ftreams, and* 

 of a third about half a mile higher up, clofe to a bridge. By tracing this laft toits fourc^,» 

 you will come to a place fet down in the map Ballinvally; this is a ravine between two 

 others,- that -run down the fide of the -hill into-a femi-circle, or more properly femi-elliptical 

 valley, which extends'fn breadth from one fummit to the other of the boundary of the valley, > 

 and acrofs the valley three quarters of a mile or fomewhat lefs. The hollow fid'e of the hill 

 forms the termination of the valley, and down which run the three ravines abovementioned; ■ 

 At their jundlion the brook aflumes the name of Ballinafloge: at this place the defcent is 

 not very rapid, and fo continues a hanging level for about a quarter of a mile or fomewhat 

 more, whett the valley grows narrower and t-he fides of the braok become fleeper ; and it • 

 Ihould feem that fome rocky bars acrofs the courfe of the brook .have formed the gravelly 1 

 beds, above, over, and through which the ftream flows, and in- which the gold k found. The 

 ted of the brook, and the adjacent banks of gravel on each fide, for near a quarter of a mile ' 

 in length, and for 20 or 30 yards in breadth, have been entirely ftirred and wafhed by the - 

 peafants.of the country, who amounted to many hundreds at work at a time whilft th&y 

 weic i erxnitted to fearch for the metal. 



4 , A geijtlemaa. . 



