The Lake Fault Oil Gold 



being sent back to the base camp for a further stock of 

 provisions. 



While waiting for these we set to work to examine 

 the sand and gravel brought down by the three streams, 

 as the nature of these deposits would give a clue to the 

 kind of rocks to be expected in the upper parts of their 

 valleys. 



The stream from the east was found to be carrying 

 much dark-coloured matter, and to be forming deposits 

 of black sand with a number of greenish grains. The 

 chief material appeared to be magnetite, an oxide of 

 iron (Fe 3 O 4 ), but as there was not sufficient to render 

 the deposit of commercial value, we paid little attention 

 to it beyond coming to the conclusion that somewhere 

 in the higher parts of East Valley there must be basalts 

 or other similar rocks. 



The deposits in Centre Valley appeared still less 

 interesting. They consisted of yellow quartz-sand, very 

 fine grained and well rounded, and evidently derived 

 from the waste of the granitoid gneiss. 



The work on these sands led to some talk about 

 gold-prospecting and the process known as panning-out, 

 and as only one of us had ever carried out this process, 

 we went down to the river bank in Centre Valley, in 

 order that he might give us a demonstration. 



We took with us an iron wash basin from the camp, 

 and arrived at a point where there happened to be a 

 natural section in the sandy alluvium, settled down in 

 the warm afternoon sun for our lesson in panning. 



For the purposes of the demonstration a small bag 

 of the heavy black sand from East Valley had been 

 brought, and a little of this was mixed with a larger 



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