678 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. fANNO 17g6. 



and down which run the three ravines above-mentioned. At their junction, the 

 brook assumes the name of BalHnasloge; at this place the descent is not very 

 rapid, and so continues a hanging level for about a quarter of a mile, or somewhat 

 more, when the valley grows narrower, and the sides of the brook, become steeper; 

 and it should seem, that some rocky bars across the course of the brook have 

 formed the gravelly beds, above, over, and through which the stream flows, and 

 in which the gold is foimd. The bed of the brook, and the adjacent banks of 

 gravel, on each side, for near a quarter of a mile in length, and for 20 or 30 

 yards in breadth, have been entirely stirred and washed by the peasants of the 

 country, who amounted to many hundreds, at work at a time, while thev were 

 permitted to search for the metal. A gentleman, who saw them at work, told 

 me, he counted above 300 women at one time, besides great numbers of men 

 and children. 



The stream runs down to the n. e. from the hill, which seems to consist of a 

 mass of schistus and quartz; for on examination of the principal ravine, which 

 is now washed clean by the late heavy rains, the bottom consisted of schistus, 

 intersected at difi^erent distances, and in various places, by veins of quartz, and 

 of which substances the gravelly beds at the bottom, where the gold is found, 

 seem to consist. Large tumblers of quartz are thickly scattered over the surface 

 of the top of the hill, under a turbary of considerable thickness, on the removal 

 of which these tumblers appear. The gold has been found in masses of all sizes, 

 from those of small grains to that of a piece of the weight of 5 ounces. One 

 piece of 22 ounces has been taken up. 



In our visit to this extraordinary place, we were most hospitably entertained 

 by Mr. Graham, of Ballyconge, whose house is not more than a mile from the 

 gold mine: from hiin and his brothers I learnt, that about 25 years ago, or 

 more, one Dunaghoo, a schoolmaster, resident near the place, used frequently 

 to entertain them with accounts of the richness of the valley in gold; and that 

 this man used to go in the night, and break of day, to search for the treasure; 

 and these gentleinen, with their school-fellows, used to watch the old man in his 

 excursions to the hill, to frighten him, deeming him to be deranged in his in- 

 tellects. John Byrne told me, that about 11 or 12 years ago, when he was a 

 boy, he was fishing in this brook, and found a piece of gold, of a quarter of an 

 ounce, which was sold in Dublin; but that on one of his brothers telling him it 

 must have been dropped into the brook by accident, he gave over all thoughts of 

 searching for more. Charles Toole, a miner at Cronbane, tells me, he heard of 

 this discovery at the time, but gave no credit to it, as he never found any gold, 

 and lives very near the place. I am credibly informed too, that a goldsmith in 

 Dublin has, every year, for 11 or 12 years, bought 4 or 5 ounces of gold, 

 brought constantly by some other person. 



