48 QUICKSILVER DEPOSITS OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 



be obtained. The rocks here are similar to those of Cahtbrnia. near San 

 Francisco. Traces of native mercury are reported from Madras. 



Dutch India. — In Boruco cinnabar has long been known to exist. At the 

 gold diggings of Sarawak small rolled fragments of cinnabar are found, 

 and the antimony ores, of which the district yields large quantities, also 

 contain some mercury. By systematic prospecting, original deposits of cin- 

 nabar were found about 1867. The chief deposit is at a hill known as 

 Tagora. The rock consists of partially metamorphosed, interbedded shales 

 and sandstones. The ore is found in the slate and more rarely in the sand- 

 stone. It is a very irregular deposit, but includes vein-like developments. 

 Calcite, heavy spar, and pyrite accompany the ore. At Gading, a few miles 

 west of Tagora, stibnite and cinnabar occur together. Cinnabar was first 

 mined in 1868. The product in 1872 was 1,733 flasks; in 1873, 1,505 flasks.^ 

 In 1880 the value of the quicksilver produced in Sarawak w-as $66,300.^ 

 Mr. S. B. J. Skertchl}", formerly of the Geological Survey of Gi'eat Britain, 

 informs me that he has examined alluvial deposits from the interior of north 

 Borneo containing gold and cinnabar. On the island of Sumatra, in the 

 southern part of the Pedang highlands, in the neighborhood of Sibelaboe, 

 fine particles of cinnabar accompanied by magnetic iron occur in crystal- 

 line schists, but not in quantities sufficiently large to warrant mining oper- 

 ations.^ Quicksilver is also reported from the island of Java at Samarang.* 



Spanish India. — Uuimportaut quantities of quicksilver ores are reported to 

 occur in the Philippine Islands.^ 



Australia. — Re\. W. B. Clarke, who has so greatly contributed to the 



elucidation of the mining geology of Australia, wrote as follows in 1875:® 



Some years siiice, I reported on the occuiTencc of mercury iu this colouy, but my 

 expectation of the discovery of a lode of cinnabar has been disappointed. The cin- 



'A. H. Everett: Notes on the Distribution of the Useful Minerals in Sarawak, not dated, but 

 seemingly written in 1874. 



-Mining Journal, London, 1882, p. 415. This value correspouded, at the Loiidon prices for 1880, 

 to about 2,000 flasks. 



' R. D. M. Verbeek : Beschr. Sumatra's Westkust, 1883, p. 5152. 



' D'Achiardi, loc. cit. 



"> This note is derived at second hand from J. Roth : Geologische Bescliaffeuhcit der Pbilippinen. 



" Mines and Mineral Statistics of New. South Wales, etc., Sydney, 1875, p. 201. 



