362 Beviews — Blake on the Production of the Precious Metals. 



being given down to the end of the year 1867. Fully alive to the 

 many difficulties attending the collection of mining statistics, Mr. 

 Blake appears to have observed a wholesome caution in compiling 

 his report, and the results which he lays before us are therefore the 

 more acceptable. From a work so crammed with facts it is impos- 

 sible to do more than give an example or two, taken almost at 

 random, of the interesting statistics it contains. In the year 1867 

 the United States, with its Territories, produced 71 millions of 

 dollars of gold and silver bullion, about seven-ninths of this be- 

 ing of the former and two-ninths of the latter metal. California 

 supplied gold only, and that to the amount of 25 million dollars ; 

 Nevada on the other hand yielded six million dollars of gold 

 and more than twice that amount of silver, or the major part of 

 all the silver raised in the country. The silver production of 

 Nevada, owing to the falling off of the yield of the Great Com- 

 stock vein, is diminishing; but this loss is to a great extent 

 made good by the discovery of the White Pine silver beds, where, 

 by the way, large masses of chloride of silver come to the sur- 

 face, and are hewn out with axes. These new j&nds, Mr. Blake 

 believes will swell the annual production of silver in the States 

 beyond what it has been hitherto. The total gold and silver bullion 

 produced in the States during twenty years, ending in 1868, he esti- 

 mated to be 1,075,500,000 dollars in value. 



Passing on to the gold regions of South America, Central America, 

 Australia and New Zealand, which are treated of in one chapter, he 

 finds that the yield of gold of the Brazilian mines culminated in the 

 middle of the 18th century. The native gold from some localities 

 in the empire is noticeable for containing from 7 to 11 per cent, of 

 palladium. The production of gold in Victoria is likewise declining, 

 from 1,627,000 ounces in 1863 to 1,392,000 ounces in 1867. This, 

 however^ is ascribed to the withdrawal of a number of the miners 

 to other pursuits. In New Zealand gold was first discovered in 

 1842, but was not extensively worked till 1852, and the supply is 

 now decreasing. The total yield of this colony up to December, 

 1864, is taken to be 1,749,359 ounces, and is valued at £6,771,730. 



The next chapter discusses the gold production of the three re- 

 maining continents. The existence of gold in the Ural Mountains 

 and in the Altai was known to Herodotus, but the precious metal 

 was rediscovered in the first half of the last century during explora- 

 tions made by Peter the Great, from which time to 1864 theEussian 

 gold mines have yielded 500 million dollars' worth of metal. In 

 the ancient mines on the southern and eastern borders of the Urals, 

 wedges and hammers of copper are found, " and heavy wedges made 

 of stone, with grooves by which handles appear to have been 

 attached." Tusks of boars appear to have been used to scrape out the 

 gold, and leather bags have been discovered in some of the old gal- 

 leries. Coming nearer home, statistics assume a more modest guise. 

 The gold workers of the Ehine in the year 1846 earned a franc and a 

 half a day, and in 1853 the golden Ehine produced but 4,446 francs' 

 worth of the king of metals. The Vigra and Clogau mines, in 



