ON THE AUSTRALIAN GOLD FIELDS. 125 



ing granite country, being originally disseminated through 

 that Pkitonic rock. 



Araluen is a long romantic ravine, bounded by un- 

 broken granite ranges. Gold is found in the river bed 

 amid granite boulders and detritus, and is evidently de- 

 rived from the same source as that of Jembaicumbene, 

 which is only six miles from the head of the Araluen 

 valley. 



I must mention that in the northern part of New South 

 Wales (now within the new colony of Queensland), which 

 I have never visited, gold is found in conjunction with 

 quite a different set of rocks, viz. serpentine and its con- 

 geners. Such was the singular isolated mass of gold which 

 occasioned the wild rush of ten thousand diggers to the 

 tropical Fitzroy river a year since, only to meet there with 

 hardship and complete disappointment of their golden 

 hopes. 



At Bingara and other parts of the north, diggings of a 

 somewhat similar character were discovered and described 

 by the well known geologist, the Rev. W. B. Clarke. 



//. Speculations as to the Source of Gold. 



From the order in which I have described the gold 

 fields, the reader will almost perceive the view which I 

 take of the geology of gold. It is doubtless the granite 

 which originally contains the gold in a very finely dis- 

 seminated state, as it is almost proved to exist at Braid- 

 wood. Now quartz is one of the chief constituents of 

 granite ; feldspar and hornblende are the other chief con- 

 stituents. It has been proved,* too, that quartz is the 



* " As a general rule, quartz, in a compact or amorphous state, forms a 

 vitreous mass, serving as the base in which felspar and mica have crystal- 

 lized ; for, although these minerals are much -more fusible than silex, they 

 have often imprinted their forms on the quartz. This fact, apparently so 

 paradosdcal, has given rise to much ingenious speculation. We should 

 naturally have anticipated, that, during the cooling of the mass, the flinty 



