198 Messrs. Chalmers 8f Hatch— Maslwnaland 8f Matabeleland. 



and slate formation, and that the Mazoe and Salisbury districts are 

 practically one. Eastwards of the Commissioner's camp there are 

 at least five or six miles of schists and greenstones, while westward 

 the schists extend for about ten to twelve miles without interruption. 

 To the north-east along the Mazoe river for about 30 or 40 miles 

 a number of claims were marked out in the early part of 1891. 

 Most of these, however, have since been abandoned, and little 

 further prospecting has been done in that direction. The whole 

 Mazoe district from a few miles north of Mount Hampden, which 

 is twelve miles from Salisbury, is broken and hilly, varied by 

 stretches of flat pasture land and swamps along the river sides. 

 The direction of the hill ranges is, roughly speaking, north-east and 

 south-west, but the numerous spurs and frequent branching off of 

 one range into another make any detailed description of the contour 

 of the country as impossible as it would be uninteresting. Many of 

 the veins in the Mazoe district traverse igneous rocks. The Vesuvius 

 Eeef is a dark bluish quartz, separated by from one to two feet 

 of clay selvage from the country rock, which may be called felspar 

 porphyrite. The Alice Eeef occurs in a coarse basic crystalline rock, 

 the immediate wall of the vein being altered so as to present a 

 schistose structure. Other veins occur in chloritic and other schists, 

 and appear in the majority of cases- to follow the foliations of the 

 country rock. 



In this connection we would remark, as it may give rise to some 

 discussion on the vexed question of classification, that we do not 

 consider that the fact of a vein following the general direction 

 of foliation of the country rock, militates against the existence 

 of a true fissure, or argues any lack of permanency of the vein 

 in depth. 



What is known as the Umfuli district comprises a number of 

 smaller tracts in the neighbourhood of the Umfuli Eiver in Ma- 

 shonaland. The intervening country may yet in parts be proved 

 to be auriferous. 



The Hartley district extends about 11 miles from the Umfuli 

 along a flat stretch of country, uninterrupted save by the two 

 or three gi-anite kopjes known as the Hartley Hills. The eastern 

 portion of the district, including several of the best known reefs, 

 is granitic and gneissose. Westwards on both sides of the Umfuli, 

 gneiss gives place to schists and clay slate. 



Concession Hill, where developing operations are now being 

 carried on, lies 16 miles west-south-west of Hartley. The central 

 ridge of this and the adjoining Duchess Hill is a body of chert and 

 jasper, 40 to 50 feet thick on Duchess Hill, and reaching 100 feet 

 or more on Concession Hill. Parallel bands of the same rocks are 

 found along the flanks of the hills, alternating with chloritic schists 

 and slates. The formation dips south-west at an angle of more than 

 70 degrees. In the Duchess Hill, where a shaft has been sunk 

 100 feet and cross-cuts driven, gold is found to occur in the chert 

 bands chiefly in the form of thin scales or flakes ; and similarly 

 in Concession Hill, though here the gold is associated more with 



