On the Geological Distribution of Gold. 39 



stones, though it is ascertained that the diamond and ruby 

 belong exclusively to the earlier fluvials. 



The first fluvial deposits of this epoch consist always of 

 gravelly sand, resting on some of the depositions of the fore- 

 going period ; while in moving waters the auriferous stratum 

 is occasionally found resting on the rock. Strata of clay of 

 this period are generally observed above the first deposition. 

 As has been mentioned, a very small lamellar gold is 

 •found among the vegetable soil in South America, even at an 

 elevation of from 9,000 to 10,000 feet above the sea. 



Fluvial gold is in Peru found at an elevation of 13,500 

 feet above the sea. In New Granada the writer found some 

 very fine gold in the streamlets on the slope of the Paramo 

 de Ruiz, at 12,500 feet elevation, this gold being accompanied 

 by titaniferous iron sand. These elevated waters moving 

 on graywacke, are supplied by the perpetual ice which here 

 covers the crest of, and fills the interior of the extinguished 

 crater, 2,950 feet above the brooks alluded to. 



Gold in the Rock. — Quartz-veins in granite are seen close 

 to the summit of the Paramo de Sonson of New Granada, at 

 the elevation of 10,100 feet above the sea. 



Fluvial gold is also found at the level of the ocean, as seen 

 on the Asiatic and African coasts, also at Port Phillip, Aus- 

 tralia, &c. 



CONCLUSION. 



By this brief view of the geological position of gold, we 

 find that its distribution is threefold, viz. — in the rocks, the 

 earlier (diluvial) and later (alluvial) fluvial depositions. 



Though there may exist localities where the auriferous 

 fluvial detritus has been provided for by disintegration 

 of the vein-stone carrying gold, in South America espe- 

 cially, as has been stated, and also in other districts, 

 the gold from the fluvial depositions presents no analogy 

 whatever to that produced from the veinstone;* wherefore, 

 the prevailing hypothesis on the origin of gold among the 

 drift does not hold good, at least as a general fact ; conse- 

 cmently some other explanation is required, and thus a new 

 object for research is here offered into the secrets of the vast 

 laboratory of nature. 



After the apparently last geological arrangements had been 

 finished, during the Pleistocene period, when the materials 



* This fact has been familiar to the writer for the last twenty years. 



