238 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June 



'< There is no reason to suppose that the great quartzite belt, at 

 Mount Uniacke, is destitute of leads or slate partings in other 

 parts of the district. It has been already observed, that both 

 slate and leads not unfrequently " thin out" and " take up" again ; 

 that they often form thin lenticular sheets, where whin occurs in 

 massive beds. When leads are found in slate they are generally 

 persistent. 



" It is t'ais intermittent form of some leads which has led to the 

 opinion that they are segregated veins filling longitudinal cracks 

 produced by the folding of the strata. It must be borne in mind 

 that independently of the slaty structure of many leads, as descri- 

 bed by Dr. Hunt, the pressure to which the strata were subjected 

 during the folding, could not have been less than that of a mass 

 of nine thousand feet in thickness, and, possibly, an incumbent 

 ocean superadded. Under such pressure the formation of fissures 

 would be problematical. 



;>« ;!< ^ ^ ^ 



Several of the facts referred to in the above extracts, are 

 supposed to indicate that the gold quartz is an original bedded 

 deposit, formed under the same conditions as the containing beds. 

 We are inclined to believe, however, that they admit of a very 

 diff"erent interpretation, and that Prof. Hind, as well as other 

 observers, have been misled by the supposed analogy of the bedded 

 ores of the Quebec group of Lower Canada, which are v«ry 

 diiferent from the veins parallel to the bedding so abundant in 

 the metamorphic districts of Acadia. 



The following observations are of a more practical character : 



" The practice of mixing quartz from difi"erent leads, and crush- 

 ing the whole together is to be condemned. It is impossible, by 

 the adoption of this method, to ascertain whether a lead is paying 

 or not. A poor lead worked at the same cost as a rich lead may 

 neutralize all the benefits which would be obtained if the rich lead 

 were worked alone. Each lead ought to be crushed by itself, and 

 a statement of the result, with the cost of mining the quartz, 

 recorded. This can be done without any difficulty in mills with 

 from ten to twenty stamps, without retarding work, if system is 

 adopted. Plans of all the workings are also essential, showing 

 at least monthly progress. In case a fault is discovered in one 

 lead, and difficulties should arise in ascertaining the effect of the 

 disturbance, it can be speedily reached in a neighboring lead, and 



