218 



THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



[J, 



the possession of a single area, often reaps a rich return ; while 

 a company having a large working capital, and owning a large 

 number of areas, will be unfortunate in obtaining results. Faults 

 may occur in the veins, the rich streak may be passed through, 

 and the vein becomes barren, or gradually thins out to a mere 

 thread, in sinking upon it; the expense of sinking shafts and 

 making adits, &c, in the hard rock; the cost of transporting the 

 quartz to the mill, etc., all increase the expenditure, and the quartz 

 obtained may thus not pay the cost of mining and crushing. A 

 thin vein may produce a very large yield, and yet be unprofitable 

 to work ; while a thick and easily worked vein, though producing 

 a low yield per ton, is often found profitable. 



The following statement has been prepared from the return of 

 the Chief Commissioner of Mines for the months of July, August, 

 and September, 1864, and is intended to show the yield of th e 

 different districts per man employed. The return for the month 

 of September has been used ; the price of gold has been assumed 

 to be SI 9.00 per ounce, and the cost of crushing per ton to be 

 $2.50. 



In the above, deduction should be made to meet expenses of 

 management, royalty, tools, machinery, &c. 



The writer, not professing to be a geologist, has to acknowledge 

 that he has drawn largely from Dr. Dawson's £ Acadian Geology,' 

 and from the reports made to the Provincial Government, for much 

 of the geological description contained in this paper. 



[Accompanying this interesting communication was a collection 

 of minerals from the gold-region of Nova Scotia, kindly presented 

 by Mr. Perlcy to the Society. Maps and sections illustrating the 

 paper, were also sent.] — Communicated by the Natural History 

 Society of New Brunswick. 



