t\a THE PROSPECTOR'S HANDBOOK. 



In Utah, in one district, the precious metal is associated 

 with cinnabar in a formation through limestone. 



In British Guiana, in the neighbourhood of some of the 

 alluvial diggings, the country rocks are chiefly granitic, 

 syenitic and metamorphic. Eruptive dykes are plentiful. 



As mentioned in the introduction to this book, the pros- 

 pector should not necessarily confine his explorations to 

 any particular district in an auriferous country. For 

 instance, in Western Australia there must be large tracts 

 of land which merit a systematic examination, notwith- 

 standing that at the present time there are gold-bearing 

 areas in the north (Kimberley), in the north-east (Pilbarra 

 and Ashburton), in the east (Murchison), and in the south 

 (Yilgarn, Coolgardie, and Dundas). 



So, too, British Columbia offers a large field for prospect- 

 ing ; also many yet unexplored parts of Africa south of the 

 equator. The Rand " banket " deposit, so especially rich 

 in the precious metals, is known to be of very great extent, 

 and other valuable conglomerates may yet be discovered in 

 other regions, though perhaps not noticeably continuous 

 with these. When once the real origin of the gold some- 

 times found in crystals in the " banket " is really known, 

 attention may be perhaps paid to various localities in 

 various parts of the world where like natural processes may 

 have taken place in depositing the gold. The very ocean 

 contains how uniformly is difficult to assert gold in solu- 

 tion ; and if it has done so in the past ages, one need not 

 be astonished to know that in certain places where, for 

 instance, the salt water has been evaporated, or where 

 nature's precipitants not, of necessity, like those employed 

 in the laboratory have thrown down the metal from its 

 solution, gold fields, yet to be worked, may exist. 



Suffice it to remark, gold seems to be very much dis- 

 tributed throughout the world ; and consequently the pros- 

 pector should keep his eyes open wherever he goes and get 

 rid of the notion that good specimens of gold in lode, quartz, 

 or alluvial deposits are the only desiderata so far as he ia 

 concerned in his searchings. 



