76 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 2, 



this volcanic region forms a most interesting subject for geological 

 research and speculation. 



Quartz veins. — The sedimentary rocks are traversed by numerous 

 veins of quartz, about 3 feet wide, of unknown length, in some di- 

 stricts descending to an unknown depth, in others not more than 3 or 

 4 feet deep. These veins or dykes run N. and S., or N.N.E. and 

 S.S.W., and always make an acute angle with the laminae of the 

 slates. They seem to be the original matrix of all the gold found in 

 the valleys and creeks. The quartz is often intersected by many 

 joints and narrow fissures, filled with a red ferruginous earth, in which 

 particles of gold are disseminated. Gold is also found implanted in the 

 quartz itself, and attached to the sides of its ca^-ities. These am'iferous 

 veins were discovered and wi'ought before the alluvial gold deposits or 

 " Diggings ;" and as they were worked with profit by the rude means 

 at the command of the untrained diggers, they would doubtless well 

 repay those who may operate upon them with all the appliances of 

 modern European mining, so soon as the existing social excitement 

 shall have subsided and wages shall have fallen from their present 

 extravagant height. The first gold-working in the Colony was on a 

 quartz vein running through one of the trappean plains so common 

 in this country. The auriferous quartz is not milk-white, but has a 

 delicate yellowish colour, and a waxy lustre. That which is much 

 broken and fissured appears richer than the more hard and solid. 

 Sometimes large boulders of quartz are found deep beneath the sur- 

 face, in the midst of auriferous clay ; but it is remarkable that in 

 such cases the quartz boulders rarely or never contain gold, however 

 rich the clay it lies in may be. 



These quartz veins appear, as already said, to be the original seat 

 and matrix of the gold. The slate rocks having undergone continual 

 degradation during the lapse of ages, the quartz -veins also have suf- 

 fered decay and disintegration when their enclosing walls no longer 

 existed ; the joints and fissures in the veins of course aiding the de- 

 structive process. Hence the gold disseminated in their mass became 

 liberated, and, together with the materials of the quartz veins and 

 slate rocks, were washed down into the gullies and creeks, where the 

 latter formed the beds of clay, gravel, &c., now found in these de- 

 pressions ; whilst the particles, grains, and nuggets (or pepites) of 

 the precious metal by their own weight descended to the lowest of 

 the permeable beds and into the chinks and cavities of the slate rocks 

 beneath, forming the "pockets" of the miners. 



Mode in which the Gold is deposited. — Occasionally the gold grains 

 are seen strewn on the top of the soil. Sometimes they lie 30 feet 

 beneath the surface, and may also be met with in other localities 

 at every intermediate depth. The "Diggings" may however be 

 conveniently classed into two divisions : first, " Surface Workings ; " 

 second, " Pit " or " Hole Workings." In the first the gold is either 

 found lying on the surface or (much more commonly) is diffused 

 through the gravelly soil to the depth of 6 or 12 inches, beneath 

 which is usually a stiff red clay containing little or no gold. These 



