Gold Region of North Carolina. 11 
dell, Daberlas and Mecklenburg. A belief in the propriety 
of this separation was induced in the first instance by an ob- 
servation of the wide difference in the structure and general 
appearance of tlie rocks of the two districts. Those of the 
western division are highly crystalline in their structure, and 
consist of gneiss ; of which there are many varieties, (it is 
often porphyritic ; that having hornblende instead of mica; 
between the leaves—gneissoid hornblende rock of Eaton is 
common,) mica slate, hornblende slate, and some granite. 
I cannot get clear of the opinion that these are some of the 
very oldest rocks upon the continent. I endeavored for a 
long time to ascertain, if not the order of their superposition, 
at least the mode of their distribution over the surface of the 
country, and the boundaries by which the different species © 
and varieties are separated from each other, but at length 
found them in a number of places alternating with each oth- 
er in so many different ways, and in such quick succession, 
that I was induced to give it up as a hopeless task. Those 
of the western division, on the other hand, are almost exclu- 
sively ‘granite, (understanding this word in the extensive 
sense in which it is used by Maculloch, as meaning a roc 
having hornblende as well as mica for one of its ingredients,) 
having very little tendency to stratification, and a dull, earthy 
appearance, indicating a recent origin. It is difficult to 
convey, by a description, an accurate idea of the difference 
between them, but any person who has seen them pl 
side by side, will acknowledge that they must have been 
formed either at different’ eras or under different circum- 
stances. ‘To the original argument for separation 
on the diversity of appearance and constitution in the rocks, 
the following have since been a ‘ , 
1. The western division throughout the greater part of its 
extent (except along the streams, where there are valuable 
bodies of good land,) exhibits a soil of only moderate fertili- 
