io THE PROSPECTOR'S HANDBOOK. 



not conscientiously advise anyone to undertake a silver or 

 gold assay by scorification and cupellation, nor a " burette " 

 one for copper, iron, zinc, &c., until he has practised the 

 methods under the eye of an assayer ; because in all likeli- 

 hood his own attempts, though they might be near thb 

 mark as to results, would more than probably be quite mis- 

 leading. Still, there is no reason why an inexperienced 

 person should not attempt to qualitatively test minerals by 

 simple methods, nor in some instances do so quantitatively. 

 To fly to the assistance of a chemist or a mineralogist or an 

 assayer for every little matter of inquiry concerning minerals 

 is not only inconvenient, but in many mining districts 

 unsatisfactory, as there are, naturally, so many unreliable 

 so-called authorities to be met with. Because a miner pro- 

 nounces such a mineral unlike anything he has seen in 

 Cornwall, or California, or Ballarat, and devoid of anj 

 valuable metal, the prospector need not be too ready in 

 accepting such an opinion ; for, as a rule, the knowledge of 

 an ordinary miner, expert, perhaps, in certain matters, such 

 as timbering tunnels, &c., is neither remarkably extensive 

 nor always sound. Neither must he depend on the super- 

 ficial conclusions of any professed expert who has arrived 

 at such by a superficial examination, even with the help of 

 a magnifying glass. Experience abroad tells one that not 

 only has the ordinary miner erroneous notions about such 

 minerals as grey copper ore, silver glance, fine and coarse- 

 grained galena, &c., but also that the most experienced 

 mineralogist cannot for a certainty tell at first sight how 

 much gold or silver may be concealed in a particular rock. 

 Both of these precious metals are found in several places, 

 which many persons might call most unlikely formations, ami 

 it is quite a common thing to handle specimen rocks worth- 

 less in appearance and yet assaying very high in gold and 

 silver, and also handsome looking specimens that disappoint 

 in not "running" anything to the ton in either of the precious 

 metals. Nor can a person, unless he be a thorough expert, 

 depend upon the appearance of certain pieces of ore for a 

 guide as to the yield of valuable metals. Many of the 

 silicates, carbonates, and chlorides are perfectly unmetallic 

 to look at, and when associated with other metals are very 



