ON THE AUSTRALIAN GOLD FIELDS. 129 



As science^ capital and co-operatiou are more and more 

 introducedj auriferous land of less and less richness will 

 successively become profitable, and of such land the quan- 

 tity, it may be stated, is certainly very great. 



It follows then that the supply of gold, even from the 

 present alluvial diggings, would diminish but slowly, un- 

 less indeed other social circumstances, as may well happen, 

 should interfere. The many thousands of Chinese diggers, 

 with their quiet plodding and, so to say, mean industry, 

 assist to maintain and steady the supply. Yet it must 

 certainly be allowed that the deposits of alluvial gold will 

 begin to fail gradually in a very moderate period of time. 



The answer is otherwise, I believe, when we take into 

 account the quartz reefs which are real gold mines. The 

 number of reefs now known to be auriferous is great ; of 

 the rest some may be devoid of gold, but the majority 

 probably contain a proportion of the valuable metal which, 

 either now or in some years to come, as machinery im- 

 proves, will repay extraction. As reefs are now worked by 

 small parties of miners, each owning a small claim and 

 sinking an independent shaft, even the richest reefs would 

 cease to be profitable at a certain depth, from the great 

 comparative expense of draining and working so small a 

 mine. But if a whole reef were in possession of one large 

 monied company, two or three shafts and a single estab- 

 lishment would suffice ; powerful engines and pumps would 

 be employed to drain the mine, and the quartz reef might 

 be followed as deeply as copper veins or coal beds. There 

 is no known reason, beyond a mere fancy in the minds 

 of some geologists, that reefs should become impoverished 

 in sinking ; the fancy is now proved to be contrary to 

 fact. Even a few large reefs then would, I believe, yield 

 a considerable and constant supply of gold for many 

 years to come. For how much more may we not hope 

 when greater experience is attained in quartz raining, now 



3ER. III. VOL. I, s 



