TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 65 



(E.) Argyleshire : Dunoou. 



(F.) Lanarkshire : Headwaters of the Clyde, including- t!ie rich Crawford Moor 



or Leadhills district (Elvan water, Glengonner, Glencaple, Mennlock 



and Wenlock, Short Cleuch, Lamington Burn). 

 (G.) Peeblesshire : Headwaters of the Tweed (IMannor water, which flows 



north to the Tweed ; Megget water, which flows south to St. Mary's 



Loch ; various feeders of the Yarrow; Glengaber). 

 (H.) Dumfriesshire : Headwaters of the Annan (Moffiitdale : streams falling 



into Moftat water ; Hartfell range above Dobbs Linn). 



IV. The richness of the Scottish gold-tields is illustrated by the following 

 facts*:— 



(A.) The limited area of the Leadhills yielded at one time (sixteenth century), 

 to systematic working, half a million worth of gold. 



(B.) Li various public or private museums mtggets of Scotch gold are exhibited 

 of the following weights : — 



(1) 2 lbs. 3 oz. =27 oz. = 12,960 grs. ; worth at current price of gold in 



Australia ( = £4 per oz.) £108 : Leadhills : collected about 1502 : the 

 largest mass of native gold recorded as having been found within 

 historic times in Scotland. 



(2) 2 oz. = 960 grs. : Breadalbane. 



(3) 1 oz. 10dwts. = 720grs. : Leadhills. 



(4) 10dwts.=240gi-s. : Kildonan. 



(5) 30 grs.: Leadhills (1863). 



(6) 6 grs. : Moflatdale (1863). 



(7) Nuggets of 2 or 3 grs. are frequently found at LeadhiUs at the pre- 

 sent day. 



V. Geologically the area of the Scottish gold-fields corresponds to that occupied 

 by the Lower Silurian strata and their drifts : in the south represented b)^ the 

 grey wackes and graptolitic slates of the Lowthers ; in the north by the micaceous 

 schists of the Grampians. 



VI. Gold in Scotland is not, however, necessarily confined to the Silurian area. 

 In other countries it has been found in rocks of so many different characters and 

 ages, that it is impossible to predicate gold will not be found in any given district 

 or rock in Scotland. In particular, gold has been found in Laurentian rocks in 

 Canada, Nova Scotia, and Sweden ; hence it may at least be looked for in the area 

 of Laurentian gneiss in Scotland, viz. in the Hebrides and western seaboard of 

 Sutherland and Ross-shires. In Canada it occurs also in TJpper Silurian strata ; 

 so that it is possible our Pentlands may prove to be auriferous. In California, 

 Australia, New Zealand, and other auriferous countries, gold occurs in rocks of 

 more recent age, as well as in granites, syenites, sandstones and limestones, and 

 their debris, apparentl)' of very different ages. 



VII. The area of diffusion of gold in Scotland, and the extent to which it occurs, 

 can only be determined by systematic investigation, equivalent at least to the 

 "prospecting" of gold-diggers. 



VUI. Hitherto, with certain limited and local exceptions, there has been no such 

 systematic gold "prospecting" in Scotland. 



IX. "Prospecting" for gold should form part of the duties of the staff" of the 

 National Geological Survey of Scotland. From its simplicity it is, moreover, an 

 operation quite within the powers of all classes of the community, who possess, 

 with the necessary interest in the subject, the requisite leisure and local opportunity. 



X. There are indications (if they do not always amoimt to proofs) of the exist- 

 ence in Scotland of auriferous quaHzites — of gold in situ — as well as of auriferous 

 "d)-ifts" and "alluvial gold." Gold in its matrix has been apparently found at 

 least in Leadhills, Tweeddale, and Breadalbane. 



XL At the present high rates of wages for skilled labour, and with the present 

 rude appliances for its collection, gold-gathering in Scotland is not apparently remu- 



* I am further informed by Dr. Hill Burton, the learned historian of Scotland, that 

 the gold tores and other ornaments of prehistoric age found in different parts of our 

 country were, there is every reason to believe, tlie produce of native gold. 



1867. 5 



