BY EDWD. B. LINDON, A.R.S.M. 37 
Daintree, writing about the serpentine of Canoona, says: “It 
is proved that gold exists in the rock mass itself, and I have no 
hesitation in asserting that the whole of the gold taken from these 
diggings has been derived from this source.” Some of the 
Canoona gold is known as “black gold” from its being coated 
with manganic oxide of iron. 
The occurrence of gold in the Cape River has been described 
by Daintree, from whose writings on the subject I cull the 
following remarks. Payable gold deposits have up to the present 
(1868) been confined to the south-eastern outcrops of a vast 
thickness of schistose rocks. In the upper series of rocks the 
Barrier range is a monument of the durability of its quartzites and 
silicified mica slates, single bands of which can be traced for 
miles along the course of the range. The middle is in direct 
contrast to the above in regard to the durability of its rock con- 
stituents, except where traversed by extensive dykes. In the 
lower subdivision, laminated granite, mica, and hornblende slates 
are interstratified. The influence of intrusive felspar dykes in 
the Cape River district is very marked; a dyke occupying the 
whole of Paddy’s and Sharper’s Gullies crosses Golden and 
Nuggety Gully at their richest points ; at the intersection of this 
dyke with the quartzites and mica slates of the metamorphic 
series a fine example of a friction-breccia is seen on a steep hill 
slope about one-third of a mile from the junction of Paddy’s Gully 
with Running Creek. The gold found in Paddy’s and Sharper’s 
Gullies was either in the form of loose aggregated fine gold, 
forming spongy nuggets, or very fine dust, the material adhering 
to which was a more or less decomposed form of felsite. The 
following is an analysis of Paddy’s Gully gold by Mr. R. Smith, of 
the Metallurgical Laboratory, Royal School of Mines, London :— 
Gold. 4 ; ; : . 92.800 
Silver . ‘ : : : : 6.776 
Copper : ; c : : 0.048 
Lead . ‘ ‘ 5 : 5 0.048 
Bismuth : : : : ‘ traces 
Tron A : ‘ ; ; , 0.014 
99.686 
Mr. Daintree says it is probable that felsite was the absolute 
matrix of the gold found in these ravines, and on the same subject 
he mentions that in the neighbourhood of Rockhampton, at the 
so-called “ Cumming’s Reef,” parallel conditions occur, and that 
several hundred tons of this rock were crushed with remunerative 
results, From an analysis of this auriferous matrix of Cumming’s 
