50 HAMILTON AUUIFEROUS DEPOSITS OF NOVA SCOTIA. 



apparently shattered quartz Avas literally held together by clamps of 

 gold. But this lode is erratic in its course, and does not seem to 

 extend far longitudinally. On the other hand, at Old Tangier, the 

 veinstone, where it has been operated upon, is of unusual hardness ; 

 ■whilst there the quartz veins are very regular and of long continua- 

 tion, and the gold seems to be pretty equally distributed through 

 them. The same contrast has been observed in Australia, between 

 quartz lodes enclosed in hard, and those enclosed in soft rock. 



What part of the quartz lode is most rich in gold ? To answer 

 this, as far as I can, is to point out some more of the vagaries of 

 Nature. Early in the history of Kova Scotian Gold mining, I 

 observed this fact. — Upon a quartz lode on and along which three 

 or four mining companies were at work, their properties being 

 contiguous, I had an opportunity of noticing operations daily for 

 some months. This was a rich lode upon the Avhole ; but the dis- 

 tribution of gold throughout the quartz was very uneven, and this 

 in a manner most bewildering to the miner. I at lenarth found that 

 there were pretty distinctly marked sections of the lode which were 

 much more rich than the intervening sections. These richer 

 "streaks," as they have been called, did not run horizontally, nor 

 vertically, as the miners first supposed when they found that there 

 was an inequality in the distribution of gold, but obliquely. Upon 

 a subsequent examination of several other auriferous quartz veins — 

 some of them among the most noted in the Province, — I found that 

 precisely the same rule applied to them. I supposed and am still 

 inclined to suppose, that I had established a theory ; but I 

 would not venture to insist upon the universality of the 

 application of this theory. In some veins, the greater portion of 

 the gold is found in " nests," or " pockets" ; and these pockets 

 seem to be distributed, without regard to any rule Avhatevcr. In 

 others, the gold is, Avith less extremes of vaiiation, distributed 

 throughout the vein, both longitudinally and vertically. 



If wc take cross sections of auriferous quartz veins and 

 examine them, we shall find almost as great a diversity in 

 the distribution of gold. In one case, we shall find the 

 gold nearly all upon one side of the vein^ Another lode, pr<?cisely 

 similarly circumstanced, will show it upon the opposite side. In a 



