HAMILTON AURIFEROUS DEPOSITS OF NOVA SCOTIA, 45 



As to gold, I "will begin with the Devonian district. The 

 several ridges of high lands which come under this denouiinatiou 

 have, as yet, been but little explored for gold ; nor is it probable 

 that they will be, to any great extent, for some time to come. 

 These hills are, for the most part, in the interior of the country 5 

 their rocks are rarely exposed, being covered with a pretty deep 

 soil, from which has arisen a heavy growth of timber. Gold has 

 been found in the alluvium, brought down by many streams which 

 take their rise in these hills. It has seldom been discovered, as yet, 

 in quartz i/i situ ; but, for the reasons just referred to, quartz in 

 sita has seldom been seen in this geological district. In Wagamat- 

 kook, which is a proclaimed gold district, about the head waters of 

 the river of the same name, in Victoria County, quartz has been 

 mined to some small extent. The little done here in this way did 

 not afford as good promise of profit, as has been met with in quartz 

 mining elsewhere in the Province ; but it cannot be considered a 

 fair test of the productions of the district. Most of the gold obtained 

 at Wagarnatkook, has been taken from the beds of the streams 

 which flow down from the hills ; and the quantity thus procured 

 indicates the presence of numerous auiiferous quartz veins in the 

 vicinity. Gold has been discovered in the sands of neai'ly all, if not 

 all, the streams of Victoria and Inverness which take their rise in 

 these metarnorphic hills. It has also been found in the same forma- 

 tion at Cape Porcupine, near the head waters of the Musquodoboit 

 and the Stewiacke, and, I believe, at Five Islands and elsewhere ; so 

 that gold, may be sought for, with not unreasonable expectations of 

 success, in any part of this geological district. 



We have more reliable dat-a as to the auriferous character of the 

 better known Lower Silurian coast band ; but even with respect to 

 this, they are as yet very incomplete. We know that in the Lower 

 Silurian district there are found bands ofquartzite, seemingly nearly 

 parallel with each other, alternating with various slates, extending 

 in a general easterly and westerly direction. These bands are 

 intersected by various masses of granite, in some places extending 

 quite across the whole formation, but more frequently forming 

 detached masses protruding through and surrounded by the strati- 

 fied rocks just named. In this quartzite, and in a less degree, in 

 some of the slates, we find numerous veins of quartz ; and these 

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