107 



the country owes its origin, the line of strike preserving a general meridional 

 direction. Through these rocks, hut never passing upwards into the Upper 

 Paloeozoic rocks, run the auriferous quartz d^-lces or reefs usually inclined at 

 high angles, and maintaining iu almost all cases a direction parallel to the 

 general strike of tlie primary rocks. In the course of time by the process of 

 denudation deep valleys and ravines were excavated. The softer parts of the 

 rocks were first washed away, uext the quartz reefs and veins, which broken 

 up and rolled together iu the course of ages produced the vast accumula- 

 tions of waterwoni boulders, ])ebbles, and gravel which now cover extensive 

 areas in all the known auriferous districts. At a later period commenced 

 the filling up of the hollows which had thus been formed on the earth's 

 surface, but not before the larger portion of the gold, liberated from its rocky 

 matrix, had quietly settled down in the deepest portions of these ancient 

 valleys and river beds, there to be concealed for ages by the deposits of sand, 

 cla}', and gravel which now form the Tertiary beds of the greater part of 

 the interior of Victoria. Igneous or volcanic agency assisted in the levelling 

 process. Vast sheets or layers of basalt (popularly known as hluestone) occur, 

 sometimes interposed between successive deposits of drift ; sometimes cover- 

 ing the whole surface of the country, and frustrating all conjecture as to 

 the position or course of the old vallej's deeply buried beneath. To trace 

 out and work these deep leads of gold was' now the chief business of 

 alluvial mining, the more accessible portion of the gold-fields having been 

 practically worked out. (Mr. Stephens explained the difference between 

 'surfacing,' 'shallow sinking,' and 'deep sinking,' by means of diagrams, 

 and illustrated his further remarks by reference to a sketch map showing 

 the chief physical features of the Fingal district). Geological conditions 

 similar to those described in Victoria might be recognised, he said, in the 

 Silurian rocks and quartz reefs of certain portions of the Fingal district, and 

 it was this cii'cumstance which chiefly justified the hope of paying returns 

 whether from quartz reefs or deep leads. The presence of tertiary deposits 

 had not, however, been ascertained, and, if these at all, were probably concealed 

 by the alluvium and post tertiary drift which now occupy the valley of the 

 South Esk, and the bottoms of the valleys and ravines which open into it. 

 It was a question whether these extended separately across the main valley, 

 underneath the present bed of the South Esk, or were simply tributaries 

 leading ages ago to some old river bed following the general course of the 

 modern river, but perhaps hundreds of feet below the present surface of the 

 ground. The latter theory appeared the most probable, but in either case 

 the lowest part of the valley might be safely regarded as covering the chief 

 part of the gold, which has been washed out of the surrounding hills, in the 

 course of the extensive denudation to which they have been subjected. That 

 no important accumulations of gold now existed in the upper portions of the 

 tributary valleys and gullies the experience of the past iew years had shown. 

 By degrees, when once the reputation of the quartz reefs of Fingal has been 

 satisfactorily established, companies might be formed for the purpose of 

 testing the deeper grounds in the slopes which lead from near Mangana to the 

 S. Esk, and it was quite possible that indications might be met with suffi- 

 ciently favorable to justify the extension of operations under the bed of the 

 river itself. But such undertakings required a larger amount of capital, 

 confidence, and judgment, than are likely to be available at Fingal for some 

 time to come. In working deep leads at Ballarat and elsewhere companies 

 were sometimes engaged five years iu bottoming a single shaft, and many 

 thousands of pounds had to be expended before any returns could be obtained. 

 This, too, when the general course of the deep leads had been ascertained. 

 Here there was nothing known with certainty as to the existence of a deep 

 lead, and only a charlatan would attempt to speak positively of its precise 

 situation. The present duty ot every one interested in the prosperity of Fingal 

 was steadily and perseveringly to push forward the development of her 

 quartz reefs; to look to Victoria as a pbce where quartz mining has been 

 more efficiently and successfully prosecuted than in, perhaps, any other pai't of 

 the world, and therefore to be regarded as our best gtiide ; and above all to 

 beware of adventurers who profess to have discovered new processes for the 

 e.\tractiou of gold which throw all former discoveries into iusiguificance; It 



