1857.] RUBIDGE NAMAQUALAND. 239 



ore are generally, I think, those which are interposed between layers 

 of felspathic rock, with more or less of hornblende, and its varieties. 

 They are composed chiefly of quartz, but felspar and mica may 

 generally be found. The copper appears to be chiefly superficial, 

 as the removal of a few feet of the rock usually suffices to get rid 

 of all stain. These masses of crystalline rock are often spindle- 

 shaped, interposed between the strata ; capable of being entirely 

 removed by digging a few feet deep, yet often bending the strata 

 on either side. In veins thus formed, and in masses of quartz, I 

 have found, besides the infinite varieties of hornblende and actinolite, 

 the following minerals : schorl, octohedral iron- ore, garnets, a white 

 mineral very soft, but fusing with bubbling, resembling tremolite, but 

 harder, and phosphate of lime in hexagonal prisms, 4 inches long ; 

 the last I thought an interesting discovery ; I believe that some cry- 

 stals of much smaller size have been found at Bonte Koe. 



The overlying quartzite and other Se^/^. — Resting on these meta- 

 m Orphic rocks are a series of beds, the lowest of which are of a 

 hard quartzose nature ; indeed the silica infiltrating the gneiss, and 

 supplying the place of the felspar and mica removed, often gives 

 the beds the appearance of quartzite, conformable with the meta- 

 morphic rocks. I was convinced that this was the case at Springbok ; 

 but, when I saw the whole side of a mountain, as T'Quaib, formed of 

 this quartzite-rock, I hesitated in assigning to it this origin. Subse- 

 quent observation, however, has quite convinced me that I was right. 



The upper beds are much softer ; some of them are composed of 

 clay, and contain fossil vegetable impressions. A more hard and 

 compact sandstone presents a well-defined ripple-mark. These beds 

 are generally horizontally disposed, and appear to have undergone 

 but little change since their deposition ; though some, which rest 

 against the hills near Byzonder Meed, seem, however, to take an 

 inclination from the position in which they were deposited. But I 

 hope to make a collection of fossils from these, and to write another 

 letter about them. 



[Note. — Observations of the Copper-districts of Namaqualand will be found 

 in the ' Reports of the Surveyor-General, Charles D. Bell, Esq., on the Copper- 

 fields of Little Namaqualand, &c.,' Cape Town, 1855. M. Delesse's ' Notice sur les 

 Mines de Cuivre du Cap de Bonne-Esperance,' Anuales des Klines, 1855, vol. viii> 

 p. 186; the * ProAisional Report upon the Nature and General Character of the 

 Copper Districts of South Namaqualand, by A. Wyley, Esq., Geol.-Surveyor to 

 the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope,' Cape Town, 1856. — Edit.] 



February 20, 1857. 

 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING. 

 [For Reports and Address see the beginning of this volume.] 



