133 MR. W. S. JEVONS : REMARKS 



miles of Beechworth^ the principal town, which is situated 

 upon the May-day Hills^ one thousand seven hundred feet 

 above the sea. The diggings in question lie considerably 

 above the level of the surrounding country, and we can 

 look for the source of the contained gold only to the high- 

 est parts of the hills. Now the May-day range is com- 

 posed of granite, and no stratified rocks were to be seen ; 

 so that it is surprising, and almost unaccountable, to find 

 among the auriferous alluvium clay containing an abun- 

 dance of white quartz gravel, evidently the detritus of 

 schistose hills penetrated by auriferous reefs. We are 

 driven to suppose that Silurian strata once covered the 

 granitic range, but have since been entirely disintegrated 

 and removed. 



Mount Tarrengower. — Here we meet very different 

 geological features. The gold produce is derived from 

 several very fine and rich quartz reefs which traverse a 

 bold mountain range, principally if not entirely composed 

 of Plutonic rocks. Unimportant alluvial diggings lie at 

 the eastern base of the mount. I descended and examined 

 two of the quartz gold claims or mines, mere rude narrow 

 spaces, where part of the dyke of quartz had been ab- 

 stracted from between the walls of the containing rocks. 

 In these cases, the reef did not crop out at the surface 

 but shafts had been sunk to a depth of fifty or sixty feet 

 in order to strike upon it. 



The foundations of Mount Tarrengower are undoubtedly 

 of granite, which is to be seen on the western slope reach- 

 ing nearly half way up, but the higher parts, it must be 

 especially remarked, are composed of a hard hornblendic 

 rock more nearly resembling basalt than granite. Nume- 

 rous auriferous quartz reefs traverse this hornblendic part 

 of the mount, one reef cleaving the very summit, while 

 another reef attains the extraordinary thickness of thirty 

 feet. It is true, indeed, that close to those reefs which 



