124 MR. W. S. JEVONS : REMARKS 



to learn particulars from them, that to arrive at the true 

 nature and relative positions would have required a long 

 personal examination, and also more geological experience 

 than I possess. 



Several other reefs parallel to the main reef, but of 

 much smaller magnitude, were near, and were accom- 

 panied in a similar manner by hornblendic rocks. The 

 richest parts of the reef were thought to be those where 

 the quartz contained large quantities of the sulphides of 

 iron, arsenic and copper. 



Only very small quantities of gold had ever been ob- 

 tained from the bed of the creek near, although the reef 

 was proving highly remunerative to some thousands of 

 persons engaged in mining and crushing quartz, in order 

 to separate the gold by amalgamation. The yield was 

 perhaps five (5) ounces of gold per ton, as much as ten 

 (10) ounces being sometimes obtained. 



Braidwood. — A very distinct kind of gold field is that 

 near Braidwood, in the southern part of New South Wales. 

 The country is a remarkable plateau of granite, uniformly 

 elevated two thousand feet above the sea level. At Jem- 

 baicumbene gold is found in the wide shallow bed, or in 

 the banks of a creek, surrounded by granite hills of very 

 moderate elevation, or by flat lands from which granite 

 boulders everywhere crop out. 



A fine gold dust, quite free from large particles or nug- 

 gets, is found at the creek, lying on the granite bottom 

 rocks, amid a detritus of purely granitic origin, including a 

 fine white sand composed of minute perfect topaz crystals, 

 which remain mixed with the gold in spite of all washing. 

 Black magnetic iron sand is also found here in abundance, 

 and quartz occurs in large crystals. 



In the bed of the creek, indeed, I noticed some pebbles 

 of extraneous origin ; but I have not the least doubt that 

 the Braidwood gold is derived directly from the surround- 



