86 REPORT—1863. 
agree with such an origin better than with the supposition of their hanes a cin 
lated in a lake—for which, indeed, no sufficient evidence appears of any kind. 
Assuming, then, a fluviatile action for the arrangement of the deposit, it is first 
to be remarked that, neither by the abundance of water-shells nor the aspect of the 
beds does any presumption arise of long-elapsed time during their accumulation. 
Secondly, it cannot be doubted that the flint implements are of the age of the 
gravel beds—that is, the age of their latest disturbance; for it is a well-known 
fact, of frequent occurrence, that an old fluviatile deposit of gravel, sand, and loam 
is disturbed by even a gentle stream in time of flood, removed and rearranged in 
the same order in a new situation, and that thus broad areas of recomposed de- 
posit are annually increasing. During such changes, objects like the flint “ haches” 
would be often plunged to the bottom, after having been lying on tle top, and 
may thus be found little worn among objects which may have experienced longer 
agitation and “ frottement.” 
But the age of this gravel is not necessarily so very great as it must be if the beds 
were deposited at the high level which they hold, and the valley subsequently 
excavated by the river. This probably did not happen; the beds are not level— 
they slope towards the river 1°, 13°, 2°, and 23°; this slope proves them to have 
been angularly elevated; and, by examining other sections in the same valley, it 
appeared to the author that the line of the Somme is marked out by a fault, and 
that other angular movements of the same kind in modern geological times have 
marked out the other exactly parallel valleys on each side of the Somme, between 
the well-known anticlinal axes of Boulogne and the Pays de Brai. The author is 
disposed to accept as probable the contemporaneity in Picardy of the “ flint- 
kmappers” and the extinct Rhinoceros, but to refuse to the deposit proof of more 
than a few thousand years of antiquity. 
On the Recent Discovery of Gold near Bala Lake, Merionethshire, 
By T, A. Reapwin, £.G.8, 
The discoveries of gold in Merionethshire have of late been rather frequent. In 
some instances the appearances have been of such a character as to justify expecta- 
tions of profitable results. Last year the author enumerated the gold localities of 
the neighbourhood of Dolgelly ; now he noticed a recent discovery of gold near the 
beautiful lake of Bala (Ziyn Tegid). About five miles from Bala, on the north- 
west side of the turnpike-road leading to Dolgelly, and about two miles from the 
village of Llanuwchllyn, nearly opposite the western end of the lake, is a prominent 
hill, known as Castell Carn Dochan. At the top of this hill are the ruins of a castle 
of the olden time, and at the foot of the hill runs the swift little river Lew (Avon 
Lew) on its course to the lake. Geologically, the district is similar to the “ Dol- 
gelly Gold District,” namely, the Lower Silurian rocks penetrated by large bosses 
of greenstone. The Maps of the Geological Survey, LXXIV. S.W. and LXXYV., 
S.E., show a continuation of rocks to this spot, in a north-easterly direction, of 
precisely the same character as at Cwmheisian, Dolfrwynog, Cefn Coch, Tyddyn- 
glwadis, &c., a distance of six or seven miles. At Castell Carn Dochan Mine there 
is a very remarkable auriferous quartzose lode. It runs nearly N.E. and 8.W., 
and has a dip to the south. This lode is exposed to view for about twelve fathoms, 
showing gold in specks nearly the whole distance. The lode-stuff is for the most 
er free from sulphurets of lead, zinc, and copper. Occasionally metallic gold is 
ound richer than a large specimen which was exhibited. The quartz has a differ- 
ent appearance from that at Clogau and Dolfrwynog, and resembles more closely 
that at Clunes in Australia. Some boulders of quartz weighing from 2 to 4 ewt, 
have been broken up and found to contain visible gold throughout. The largest 
boulder had been built into a wall, near the spot where it had fallen, The upper 
fa an of the lode appears to have slipped over the lower and down the face of the 
ill, leaving behind it a record of where it had been in characters of gold. Many 
tons weight of this lode-stuff have been collected, some of which has yielded gold 
at the rate of 18 oz. to the ton. It is interesting to notice large loose masses of 
greenstone lying about, having upon them incrustations of quartz, spangled with 
particles of gold. The débris, of witli there is a considerable quantity, yields gold 
eo 
