66 IN THE ACADIAN LAND. 



fied or interbedded veins. If all were clear as 

 we suppose, other veins in plenty would be seen 

 running in various directions and entering the 

 rocks at differing angles. These are known as 

 " angulars " or " crossleads." In both kinds of 

 leads or veins they are formed of white quartz 

 or silica. 



In conditions like we have here imagined, 

 where nothing would hide the solid surface of 

 rocks, there would be no great difficulty for the 

 " first comers " to locate a gold mine that would 

 be a fortune in itself. It would only be neces- 

 sary to examine these white lines of outcrop- 

 ping quartz veins, where gold would be found 

 in some of them, and then select the richest 

 veins. As matters now stand, the once bare 

 rocks and veins are covered throughout the 

 district, with few exceptions, with an average 

 depth of seven or eight feet of gravel, sand 

 and clay. In places this superficial deposit is 

 fifty feet deep. Of course all this upper mate- 

 rial is made up of other rocks broken into dif- 

 ferent degrees of fineness. The underlying 

 " bed rock " or " country rock " belongs to the 

 Silurian group, and therefore to be reckoned 

 among the earliest of water-made or sediment- 

 ary formations ; but this overlying material, in 

 which all the vegetable life is rooted, is com- 



