NATIVE GOLD DUST. g^Q 



tlistance of several miles, every where mingled more or less Found in the 



ivith the sand It is very positively asserted, that it oc* ^^V^ '^''^'1^ 



curs 111 all the little rivulets between Valperj^a and Ri vara river. 



I endeavoured to discover, whether ail the waters 



tise sufficiently near to each other, to lead us to suppose, 

 that they equally derive their gold from the same mine: as 

 it is in this way that the vulgar, and even most of the 

 learned, generally account for the gold found in rivers. But 

 1 was completely convinced, that the waters of which I 

 «peak arise from different heights at some distance from one 

 another, so that, as we cannot suppose all these places to 

 contain mines, from which the gold may be derived, we 

 itiust necessarily admit, that the particles of gold are not 

 separated daily by the action of the water, and carried along 

 by its streams, but that the water finds them in the soil it- 

 self over which it flows Aad it is farther confirmed by 



the observation, that the auriferous strata disappear as we 

 JirOceed up the Oreo ; that we find them at farthest only 

 as high as the bridge ; that above this all traces of them 

 are lost, though this is very far from the springs, while as 

 we descend into the plain these strata are every day ex* 

 posed by the action of the water, and particularly ia 

 floods *.'* 



In a second part I shall speak of the theory proposed by Supposed la 

 Mr. Napion, in his Memoir on the Mountains of Canavais f, <^°'"« fromp/. 

 mrlio, having observed that all the pyrites of those mountains 

 are auriferous, attributes the particles of gold to their de- 

 composition or attrition. This is the opinion of our worthy 

 colleague. Dr. Bonvoisin. 



The observations I am now about to communicate appear Further proof 

 to me still more decisive, than the proofs alleged by these of us origin to 



1 1 •/. 1 1 i' 1 • 1 T 1 II 11 be adduced. 



authors ; and it the earths ot which 1 shall speak do not 



furnish so large a quantity of gold dust, they afford indis- 

 p.utable arguments,^ to convince us, that the gold certainly 

 does not proceed from any mine traversed by water, at least 

 ill the present day, 



♦ Mem. of the Roy. Ac. of Turin for 1784,5, on the auriferous Sand 

 of Oreo, Part II, p. 404, 407, 



t lb. for 1785,6, p. S45,6. 



