FIRST EXPEDITION 503 



conical mountain [MOUNT CROLL], apparently about 10 miles 

 off [8 miles, actually. R. L. J.]. 



A well-beaten horse track was found to lead from the fortified 

 camp through a low gap to W. 16^ S. (true). Half a mile from the 

 camp, the track crosses a quartz reef, 6 or 8 feet wide, running W. 

 30 N. and traceable for 100 yards, with iron-stained cavities and 

 interlacing dog-tooth crystals of quartz along lines of joint. A 

 good deal of picking had been done on this reef, and " specimens " 

 showing gold had been obtained. The " surface " and alluvium 

 of a small gully draining the reef had also been worked. We 

 obtained " colours " in the surface, and from some of the quartz 

 which we broke up we obtained small " colours " and a little cloud 

 of almost impalpable GOLD DUST. 



A quarter of a mile further, a dyke (NNW. to SSE.) of compact 

 silicated felstone, 4 feet in width, crosses the track. A mile 

 beyond this the track divides and dies out. 



September 12. Prospected up the river with the results related 

 (for the sake of connection) under date nth September. 



September 13. We followed a track up the right bank of Shanty 

 Creek (ENE.). For the first mile we had gently rolling country. 

 Then the track ascended by two steep pinches (granite) to the top 

 of the tableland, after which it went parallel with the creek (NE.). 



Four miles up the creek from its mouth, we crossed a large reef, 

 with red iron oxide strings and leaders in it. This reef was trace- 

 able for some distance to north and south. 



Half a mile higher (after the track has crossed to the left bank), 

 a reef, 4 feet in width, occurs on the left side of the track. It 

 runs north and south and has a distinct hanging wall on the east 

 side. It contains very good-looking stone, red and yellow in joints, 

 with crystalline cavities, the faces of the small crystals stained red 

 with iron oxide. 



Half a mile higher, we saw the remains of a CAMP, extending for 

 half a mile on the right bank of the stream. One dam stands entire 

 A good deal of work has been done, chiefly in the bed of the creek. 

 There is a good deal of quartz in the stream, but, to judge by our 

 own success in prospecting, the workings must have been far from 

 remunerative. The bed of the creek here is divided by bars of 

 granite into long deep reaches. Long races and flood-races and 

 numerous toms, cradles, etc., attest the activity of the work. 



Nearer the mouth of the same creek, about a mile and a half 

 above the shanty, a long bar of granite runs diagonally across the 

 creek, and here the bed of the stream has been sluiced, with small 

 success. 



On the crown of the hill between the river and Shanty Creek 

 we found a reef running north and south. It is rather a double 

 coating of quartz crystals on the opposite faces of a long joint in 

 the granite. The quartz crystals are dyed blood-red, and I have 



