1854.] RAMSAY ON THE GOLD ROCKS OF N. WALES. 245 



about half a mile above Rhaiadr Mawddach. Another quartz-lode, 

 bearing lead, occurs a little above the vraterfall. A north-VFest lead-lode 

 lies a little W. of Moel-Hafod-Owen ; and tvro others (one of them 

 bearing silver) cross the river in the same direction, about half a mile 

 belovr the fall. They pass through arenaceous slates and greenstone. 

 Tvi^o N. and S. copper-lodes cross the little valley that lies betvpeen Moel- 

 Hafod-Owen and the hills behind Dol-y-frwynog. Two others occur 

 on the steep slopes that overhang iVfon-wen on the W., about half a 

 mile S. of Dol-y-frwynog. These four are in the talcose rocks above 

 described. Several large quartz-lodes traverse this country on Moel- 

 Hafod-Owen. They are in the ordinary Lingula-flags. The largest 

 is on the E. flank of the hill. The rocks are there much disturbed 

 and altered, and numerous little bosses of greenstone are intruded 

 among its beds. 



Dol-y-frwynog stands on the W. of Afon-wen*. It lies in the 

 heart of the talcose schist, which almost everywhere contains much 

 iron-pyrites in small crystals, scattered through the body of the rock, 

 together with specks of the yellow sulphuret of copper. Small veins 

 of this ore are also scattered through the mass. It was in part of 

 this area, about half a mile S. and S.W. of Moel-Hafod-Owen, that 

 the famous Turf Copper Mine was situated. A peat-bog occupied 

 the greater part of the bottom of the valley. The turf was pared off 

 the surface and burned in kilns, and being partly saturated with 

 copper, a large residue of valuable ore was left in the ashes. Many 

 thousand pounds worth were thus extracted. The hills have since 

 been burrowed in all directions in search of the great lode, or bunch, 

 from whence the copper was supposed by many sanguine adventurers 

 to have been carried in solution to the peat. It has never yet been 

 found, and perhaps does not exist ; the water that percolated through 

 the rocks and rose in the springs having more probably carried the 

 copper, in the form of a sulphate, from those minuter quantities that 

 are more or less diffused through the mass of the hill immediately 

 above the Turf Mine. 



When I inspected the geology of this country in the spring of 

 1853, the most remarkable and promising lode was the new gold-lode 

 at Dol-y-frwynog. The lode runs about W.N.W. and E.S.E. in the 

 low ground S. of Moel-Hafod-Owen, on the east watershed. It is 

 principally composed of a white saccharoid quartz, irregularly tra- 

 versed by numerous small loose joints. Chlorite, decomposing talcose 

 matter, and pink carbonate of lime are intermingled with it. In 

 parts the quartz assumes a semi-granulated aspect, profusely inter- 

 mingled with soft, unctuous, decomposing talc. It is largely charged 

 with iron-pyrites. As a rule, the substance of the lode is easily 

 shivered into fragments, a great advantage both in the original 

 working of the lode and in subsequent operations. It was first opened 

 in search of copper; and a shaft was sunk to a depth of about 



* This stream is inserted, but not named, in the Ordnance Map. It washes 

 the E. hase of Moel-Hafod-Owen and passes through a deep valley to the Maw- 

 ddach, into which it flows nearly opposite the fourth milestone on the Dolgelli 

 road. 



