344 PROCEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 21, 



to the south-east, to '* Laidlaw's field." Here some were clearing 

 away the superficial drift, and uncovering the quartzite (^^whinstone" 

 of the miners) ; others were blasting the quartzite that covered the 

 quartz-vein (or the " quartz-barrels " of the miners) ; others were 

 breaking up the " quartz-barrels," removing the quartz, and storing 

 it up for the crushing-machine. The rock exposed on the removal of 

 the quartz is a chloritic slate. On this the quartz lies, nearly horizon- 

 tal, shghtly inclined to the west, somewhat like a stratum. This is 

 composed of the said " barrels," which appear from above to be lying 

 alongside of each other and unconnected; but the captain of the 

 *' Victoria Claim" assured me that they were connected at the un- 

 derside. The shape of the ridges of quartz is irregular, being 

 sometimes angular, sometimes more or less rounded. At the time 

 of my visit the appearance in the '^ Victoria Claim " was very strik- 

 ing ; all the uncovered " barrels " had been removed except one and 

 small fragments of others. There the entire one lay, in length 150 

 feet, like a gently tapering, branchless tree, inclined at an angle of 

 1 or 2 degrees, with the butt-end highest. The vein inclines towards 

 Allen's field. Overlying this great and almost horizontal auriferous 

 vein of quartz is the '' whinstone " of the miners, a hard quartzite, 

 as I have already stated, or altered siliceous stratum. This quartzite 

 is sometimes very thick, naked, and rugged ; and at other times it is 

 covered with drift, presenting, after being uncovered, a scratched 

 surface ; it gradually thins until it disappears. Wherever this cover- 

 ing of quartzite is preserved, the horizontal vein, as far as I could 

 observe, was entire. Wherever the glacier has succeeded in removing 

 the quartzite, the vein has disappeared. 



A good illustration of this was shown. In the " Victoria Claim " 

 the miners were engaged in removing the remains of a "barrel" 

 which had proved very rich. Hence the miners in the adjoining 

 claim, which belongs to a Company in London, were induced to make 

 immediate search for a continuation of the " barrel." Although only 

 a few feet intervened, they found that the " barrel " had disappeared, 

 together with its quartzite covering; drift and fragments being in 

 its place. The boulders, however, produced by the destructive glacial 

 agent had led to the discovery of the vein itself. 



In order to show the relation that appears to exist between these 

 gold-fields and the adjacent rocks exposed in the Eailway-sections 

 to which we have already referred, we proceed to review the series 

 in descending order. We have, first, the top or quartzite-rock of 

 Laidlaw's, then the great auriferous quartz-vein, next clay-slate and 

 chloritic-slate; beneath, going in a north-westerly direction, the dark- 

 coloured clay-slate and talcose slate, with veins of auriferous quartz 

 in Allen's gold-field. Proceeding in a straight course to the Railway- 

 junction, we pass over drift with masses and boulders of quartzite, 

 evidently derived from the underlying rock. Before reaching the 

 Railway-junction, at a distance of IJ or 2 miles, we descend from 

 elevated ground into a hollow, where large quartzite masses abound. 

 At the junction the cuttings in the quartzite appear. Following the 

 Windsor Line, the ground on either side of the Railway is very un- 



