206 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June 



A fact respecting the distribution of gold in the vein-rock, has 

 been established in the mines of Nova Scotia: it is, that the 

 precious metal does not pervade the whole vein alike, but runs in 

 bands or streaks, at different rates of dip or inclination, in different 

 veins. Were this fact fully understood, miners would be enabled 

 to calculate, from observations and measurements made in openings 

 on the vein which they propose to mine, at what depth they may ex- 

 pect to reach the auriferous and paying portion of the vein in new 

 shafts. The following extract from Hittell's " Resources of Cali- 

 fornia " is in elucidation of this fact : — 



" Most of the gold in a lode is usually in a rich streak near the 

 foot-wall or lower side, as if the metal had settled down by its 

 gravity. The rock near the hanging-wall or upper side of the lode 

 is the poorest. Occasionally several rich streaks will be found in 

 a lode — one streak with coarse particles, another with fine. All 

 parts of a lode are not equally rich ; but the gold is found in 

 spots. A lode which is very rich in one place, may be poor in 

 another not very far off ; indeed, there is no auriferous vein in the 

 state known to be rich for a long distance on the surface. The 

 gold is found in streaks or pockets ; the rich streak runs down- 

 ward, or has a dip in the lode. It is a matter of very great impor- 

 tance to the miner to ascertain the direction of this dip, and here 

 is the rule: Take out some of the vein-stone, and examine the 

 wall-rock carefully. In most veins it will be found that the wall 

 has little furrows, as though the lode had been pushed upwards. 

 These furrows indicate the direction of the dip of the rich streaks. 

 Pockets may be considered as interrupted streaks ; and when one 

 rich pocket is discovered, others may usually be found by going- 

 down into the vein in the proper direction, and that is ascertained 

 in the same manner as for continuous streaks." 



Among all the veins of quartz discovered, none has excited so 

 much curiosity, or given rise to so much speculation on the theory 

 of its formation, as the horizontally plicated or folded vein found on 

 Laidlaw's hill in the Waverley district.* 



The following description of this vein by J. Arthur Phillips, 

 of London, will convey some idea as to the appearance of this 

 peculiar vein : — 



" The most remarkable deposit of auriferous quartz hitherto 



* See a description and figures of them by Prof. Silliman in Silliman's 

 Journal [2], xxxviii, 104. 



