620 



NA TURE 



[Oct. 27, 1887 



present were expected to speak upon them. The production of 

 gold was ;^6, 500,000. Of this the larger portion was from quartz- 

 mining, the placer production having very much fallen off owing 

 to the unfavourable legislation in California. The speaker re- 

 ferred to the tellurides as true ores of gold, and predicted that 

 while at present they were found in large quantities only in 

 Colorado, they would be found in much greater quantities north 

 and south. The production both of gold and silver would un- 

 doubtedly be increased as transportation facilities were increased 

 in localities now nearly inaccessible. The placer mines of North 

 Carolina and Georgia had, he believed, a great future before 

 them. A successful process was required for working the 

 enormous dry deposits of Arizona and New Mexico without 

 water. The silver production is over ;^io,ooo,ooo sterling. 

 The rich deposits of Leadville (Colorado), the Comstock mines 

 in Nevada, the Silver King and other localities in Arizona, 

 Silver City and Lake Valley (New Mexico), were referred to. 

 At the latter a chamber was found not much larger than a 

 common room from which ^roo,ooo worth of ore was taken. 

 It was chloride, so rich that it would fall in drops of nearly pure 

 silver with the heat of a lighted match. 



The American copper mines are the richest in the world ; 

 the production being over ;^4,ooo,ooo sterling, of which the 

 " Calumet and Hecla" claims one-fifth. They have over seven- 

 teen years' supply in sight, and practically the supply is inexhaus- 

 tible. The " Anaconda" of Montana, and neighbouring mines, 

 also produce about one-fifth. These localities are so rich, 

 so easily worked, and above all so accessible, that the 

 extraordinarily rich mines of Arizona, where transportation 

 is much more costly, have suffered severely by the com- 

 petition. The mines near Clifton (Arizona) produce a charm- 

 ing combination of malachite and azurite, which is one of the 

 most beautiful ornamental stones ever seen. At the Copper 

 Queen mine malachites fully equal to those of Russia, and 

 azuntes as finely crystallized as those of Chessy, France, are 

 found. 



The lead production is of the value of ;^2, 100,000 sterling, 

 most of which is a by-product of the Rocky Mountain silver 

 mines. This production is so great that it has rendered mining 

 for lead alone unprofitable at the wonderfully rich South- West 

 Missouri region. A very interesting fact is that the vanadates 

 and molybdates of lead replace the phosphates in all the western 

 region. As vanadium salts are rapidly increasing in importance 

 in the manufacture of the aniline dyes, this will be a future 

 source of wealth, for there are mines here that can produce more 

 vanadium than all the rest known in the world. The molybdates 

 from Arizona and New Mexico are the finest ever seen. 



The production of zinc was ^^ 1,000, 000 sterling, three-quarters 

 of which is found in South- West Missouri and Kansas. Four 

 railroads have been constructed within a few years to carry away 

 the rapidly-increasing production. The zinc mines of Franklin, 

 New Jersey, have been known for over a hundred years and are 

 remarkable not only for their richness but for the extraordinary 

 number of rare and beautiful species that are found there and 

 nowhere else in the world. The localities of mercury, nickel, 

 manganese, tin, chromium, platinum, and other metals were 

 also spoken of 



Among non-metallic minerals the phosphates of South 

 Carolina were the principal, over ;^75o,ooo sterling being 

 produced annually for fertilizers. Vast deposits of gypsum or 

 plaster-stone are found in Michigan, Ohio, New York, and other 

 locahties. Mica is principally mined in New Hampshire and 

 North Carolina. This is the mineral popularly but erroneously 

 known m England as talc. Talc is a very different material, 

 also found in North Carolina, but used for the tips of gas-burners 

 and as a lubricator. The principal use of mica is for the 

 windows of coal-stoves. Many very interesting minerals occur 

 in connexion with the mica, such as beryls of enormous 

 size, emeralds of great value, garnets, and so forth. 



The time was so fully taken up with the ores and econoiiic 

 minerals that the gems and ornamental stones were treated of in 

 a lecture delivered on October 22. 



THE EXPLORATION OF NEW GUINEA. 

 QN August II (p. 351) we reprinted {tomi\iQ Sydney Morning 



_ Herald an account of an exploring expedition in New i 

 Guinea, conducted by Mr. Theodore Bevan in the steamer ' 

 ytctory. Another Australian paper, the Daily Telegraph of 

 July 9, gives, with the map which we reproduce, a more 



detailed narrative, compiled from Mr. Bevan's notes. From 

 this narrative we take the following passages :— 



The Victory left Thursday Island at 5.30 a.m. of Thursday 

 March 17, and was headed for Cape Blackwood at the mouth of 

 the Aird River, New Guinea, and distant 220 miles. On the 

 following Saturday, early in the morning, the distant mountains 

 ot 1 apua were sighted, and at 6 o'clock Cape Blackwood was seen. 

 Shaping a course after passing inside the cape to the north of En- 

 trance Island and steering past it, the party found that the River 

 Aird narrowed to about 200 yards, and after steamingfrom Entrance 

 Island a distance of 5 miles, about 4 p.m. they came to a broad 

 taut seemingly shallow stream running into Deception Bay 

 (Deception Bay is the open space shown on the map between 

 Cape Blackwood and Bald Head.) ... It was found that 

 the country between Deception Bay and the Aird River was 

 made up of islands instead of being mainland as charted by 

 Blackwood, Further, from a great number of water-ways and 

 river openings on every side, it became evident that this was 

 nothing less than the delta of a large fresh-water river, whose 

 source was in the mountains seen from the coast. Steaming up 

 this river, leaving alluvial scrub-covered islands to the left, and 

 passing broad streams eachover half a mile wide on the right, the 

 party found that deep water was carried to an important junction 

 (named after Mr. John Brazier, of the Australian Museum) right 

 under and to the south-east of Aird Hills. Here the river threw 

 off two branches, one skirting the hills to the south and the other 

 bearing north by east. Brazier Junction was found to be distant, 

 as the crow flies, 30 miles from Cape Blackwood. ... A portion 

 of the party proceeded in the whale-boat for a distance in a 

 north-westerly direction of about 6 miles, when to their surprise 

 a wide branch of the river was opened up north by west, two 

 important openings towards the south-west being also seen and 

 named after Mr, Cuthbertson and Mr. Cosmo Newbery. It was 

 becoming more and more evident that the main stream of a 

 delta in a large fresh-water river had been reached, the southerly- 

 running channels being divisions, and the Cuthbertson and 

 Newbery Rivers probably discharging their vast volumes of 

 water into Prince George's Inlet several miles westward of Cape 

 Blackwood. This main stream was explored for some 5 miles, 

 the depth being from 2 to 7 fathoms. The country around was 

 of alluvial formation, and scarcely above the level of the river, 

 but thickly covered with virgin forest, the trees reaching a 

 height of 150 feet, and crusted with mosses, fungi, creepers, 

 and orchids in tropical luxuriance. A magnificent view was 

 obtained at one part of tier upon tier of ranges of hills to the 

 northward, and behind these blue mountain peaks of from 7000 

 to 8000 feet in altitude, and from 40 to 50 miles distant. The 

 river itself in the various branches looked like an immense lake 

 studded with islands. This main channel the steamer proceeded 

 up on the day following, and a second range of low palm-clad 

 hills observed in front on the previous day proved to be the 

 head of the delta. This was named after Mr, J. V. S. Barnett, 

 of Cooktown, Queensland. This spot, as the crow flies, was 

 45 miles from Cape Blackwood, and only now could it be pro- 

 perly stated that terra fir ma had been reached, for south of them 

 the soil was alluvial, being brought down from the mountains by 

 this great stream, the volcanic cones of Aird Hills, rising to a 

 height of 1620 feet to the south-east, being the solitary excep- 

 tion in these miles of dead-level, scrub-covered, deltaic alluvial 

 flats. North of Barnett's Junction the river flowed between 

 compact banks, through gradually rising country, and with an 

 exclusive fresh-water current. 



On March 25, after proceeding up the river a few miles, a third 

 series of palm-topped conical hills were seen, and on the summit 

 were two of their native houses, being about 200 feet in lengths 

 It was soon evident that the strange apparition of the steamei 

 gliding into these fastnesses was visible from the shore, as thJ 

 mellow sound of the conch shell was heard, warning the inl 

 habitants of the scattered village of danger. Slowly the steamet 

 approached, and when abreast of the village and opposite % 

 creek some canoes full of savages were seen scuttling up the, 

 place in abject terror. The river now gradually widened outJ 

 and two large tributaries, running one from the north-west ancf 

 the other from the north-east, were seen. This junction was ob- 

 •served to be in latitude f 11', and 144° east longitude. . . . Thi 

 junction of these rivers was named after Mr. V. R, Bowden, ol 

 Thursday Island, the north-west and north-east branches being 

 named after Messrs. Burns and Robert Philp, while the great 

 river running from Bowden Junction into Deception Bay, a dis-_ 

 tance of over 60 miles, was called after the Hon. John Dougla 



