THE 



CANADIAN 



MTUEALIST AID GEOLOGIST. 



Vol. VI. DECEMBER, 1861. No. 6. 



ARTICLE XXX. — On the recent discoveries of Gold in Nova 

 Scotia. By J. W. Dawson, LL.D., F.G.S., &c. 



(Read before the Natural History Society.) 



The discoveries of gold recently made in Nova Scotia, are of 

 much interest both in a geological and commercial point of view ; 

 and should they exercise an influence on the destinies of that 

 Province, comparable with that which similar discoveries have 

 produced in California and Australia, they will not be without 

 importance to Canada, and will probably contribute to attract 

 attention to other mineral resources of the Lower Provinces here- 

 tofore neglected. In the present paper, I propose to record the 

 leading geological facts connected with these discoveries, using 

 materials collected in my former geological researches in Nova 

 Scotia, and the facts communicated to me by friends who have 

 visited the localities. 



In a paper on the Silurian and Devonian rocks of Nova Scotia, 

 published in Vol. V of the Canadian Naturalist^ p. 132, et seq., 

 I referred very shortly to a series of metamorphic rocks extend- 

 ing along the Atlantic coast of the Province. I stated that it has 

 aflforded no fossils ; but from its apparent relation to the fossilifer- 

 ous Silurian rocks further inland, and to the older slate series of 



Can. Nat. Vol. VI. No. 6. 



