GOLD 69Q 



better known, I propose giving briefly the principal results of my observations and 

 inquiries at and concerning what I may safely denominate the Crawford or Leadhills 

 gold-field, the whole of that moorland and hill-region of the southern highlands 

 Upper Clydesdale the southern extremity of Lanarkshire, variously known as 

 Crawford, or Crawford Moor, or Crawford-Lindsay, which includes the district now 

 known as the Leadhills, and forms the watershed of the four great southern rivers 

 (the Clyde, Nith, Tweed, and Annan), has repeatedly, and in various ways, proved to 

 bo more or less auriferous. Long prior to the modern system of "prospecting," 

 some of the Leadhills valleys were the scene of the far-famed alluvial washings, under 

 Sir Bevis Bulmer in 1578-92, and it was from the produce of such washings that the 

 Scottish regalia were fashioned in 1542, and Kings James IV. and V.'s celebrated 

 bonnet-pieces coined. Bulmer's chief washings are said to have been in the valley of 

 the Elvan, and he is also represented as having washed the whole bed of the Glen- 

 gonner water. But vestiges of ancient " diggins " are to be met with in many parts 

 of the Leadhills district. For instance, I found the haugh or " flat" on the banks of 

 the Glengonner water above Abington, and immediately below Glencaple Burn, covered 

 with a series of quartz-like mounds, exactly resembling those with which I was familiar 

 in the famous Gabriel's gully at Tuafoka in Otago, and which are said really to mark 

 the site, or one of the sites, of Bulmer's celebrated workings. It was the gold- 

 prospecting in this district, it is said, that led to the discovery of the lead, which has 

 proved so much more permanent a source of prosperity to the district, to which it 

 has, morever, given its distinctive modern name of late years ; and at present gold is 

 systematically collected by the Leadhill miners chiefly in certain localities, viz. in the 

 Windgate or Windygate burn, in Langcleuch burn, in Bellgall burn, in the whole 

 course of the Elvan and Glengonner, from the Clyde to their source. The gold occurs 

 chiefly in the gravelly clay, locally known as " till," as this coats the flanks of all the 

 Leadhills valleys ; but it is also to be found in the shingle, gravels, or clays of the 

 stream-beds. This gold is invariably what is known as "drift" or "alluvial" gold. 

 There is no present local evidence of the existence of auriferous quartzites. But in 

 1803 the late Professor Traill of Edinburgh found gold in a vein of quartz in situ at 

 Wanlock-Head. All the gold belonging to this district which I have seen is of a 

 granular or nuggety character, and quite comparable with the usual produce of Otago, 

 or other auriferous countries. Some of the " nuggets " found in former times, and 

 preserved in the cabinets of local, proprietors, are of very considerable size and value. 

 The cabinet of the late Lord Hopetoun contains two : one of them weighing 

 21bs. 3oz. = 27oz. or 12,960 grs., which at the current price of gold in Australia, 

 41. per ounce, is worth 108^. ; collected, it is said, about 1502, prior to the systematic 

 workings of Bulmer. The other, weighing 1 oz. lOdwts., or 720 grs. The first 

 would appear to be by far the largest mass of gold ever found in Scotland. Since, 

 however, systematic gold- workings on a* large scale were discontinued, the size of the 

 Leadhills nuggets has been greatly smaller, the largest seldom now exceeding 2 or 3 grs., 

 though they are frequently found of that size. Just previous to my visit, in the 

 autumn of 1863, a nugget of 30 grs. had been found, and another single nugget, 

 whose weight I failed to ascertain, sold for 25s. at Abington. More generally the 

 gold occurs here as rough granules, coarser and larger than those constituting what 

 could properly be called " dust," and of this considerable quantities are frequently 

 collected in limited periods for special purposes, such as marriage-gifts, or jewellery, 

 to or for the local proprietors. Thus, in a fortnight, in 1862, 975 grs. were collected 

 for the Countess of Hopetoun ; and on another occasion, 600 grs. in six weeks by 

 thirty men at spare hours, fifteen working in the forenoon, and the other half in the 

 afternoon. About Abington, in 1851, similar quantities were collected under similar 

 circumstances to furnish marriage jewellery for Lady Colebrooke. Between May and 

 October 1863, three miners, in the intervals of leisure from their usual work, collected 

 for me 33 grs., whieh they found in the "till," about forty yards above the bed of the 

 stream, half-way down the Langcleugh burn, between Leadhills and Elvanfoot : their 

 charge was 205., that is, at the rate of about 151. per ounce, or 7$d. per grain. 

 During the last five years the price of crude gold in Australia and New Zealand has 

 averaged from SI. 17s. 6d. to 41. per ounce, so that the Scottish diggers obtained for 

 their produce nearly four times as much as the New Zealand or Australian diggers 

 got for theirs. The price appears at first sight to be extremely and disproportionally 

 high ; but the cases are by no means parallel, for in the case of the Leadhills gold, 

 the collection is made to meet the demands for cabinet specimens, or for jewellery 

 materials under circumstances quite exceptional. The Leadhills miners collect their 

 gold mostly to order ; it is thus at once disposed of, and hence gold is seldom to be 

 found there for sale, or only in very small quantity. On one occasion I was offered a 

 sample of 140 to 160 grs. for 51. ; that is, at the rate at which I purchased my smaller 

 sample, but the miners have rarely so much in their possession unsold. In the 



