270 



Hais io the 

 departmeat of 



Three distinct 

 stnu. 



The upper. 



The middle. 



The lower. 



Valleys pro- 

 duced. 



ani gold found 

 ia tiictn. 



None in the 



NATIVE GOLD DUST. 



On the north of the commune of St. George's, in the cir- 

 cle of Chivas, in the department of the Doire, we find fer- 

 tile rising grounds, and hills almost wholly covered with 

 vineyards, which continue till we come to the his^jhest of 

 them, the hill of Maciio-aano, part of which is cultivated, 

 part covered with wild chestnut trees; a distance of about 

 three miles. 



In proceeding from the outer and upper surface of these 

 hills to the bottom of the valleys, which intersect them in 

 different directions, we find in general three very distinct 

 strata. 



The upper stratum is for the most part argillaceous, as it 

 furnishes an excellent earth for making bricks and tiles. 

 The thickness of this stratum varies in different places from 

 three or four feet to twenty-five or thirty. The second stra- 

 tum, which stretches likewise horizontally beneath the stra- 

 tum of clay, is a few feet thick. It is composed of a con- 

 siderable portion of sand, of gravel, and of pebbles of 

 different natures, argillaceous, calcareous, and quartzose. 

 Of these I shall speak more particularly in the second part, 

 as well as of the fragments produced by their being broken 

 or decomposed. The third or lower stratum, which forms 

 the bed of the valleys, and of the rivulets that run through 

 them in rainy weather, is composed in great measure of the 

 fragments of the argillaceous and calcareous stones of the 

 second stratum. 



The rains gradually produced little gullies in different 

 directions; which by the falling of fresh rain, and the quan- 

 tity and rapidity of the water, have in the course of time 

 been extended and converted into valleys, more or less 

 broad and deep, in ditl'erent places. Part of the water of 

 several gullies accunritiktes particularly in one valley, where 

 during storms and long rains it forms a torrent, called in 

 the country the Merdanzone. Now the gold dust is found 

 chiefly among the sands of this torrent, and of the small la- 

 teral livulets, that flow into the Merdanzone or other simi- 

 lar valleys. 



But does tliis gold proceed equally from the different 

 strata 1 have mentioned above, or from one of them only ? 

 I first cxamii.ed the brick earth, that of ihe upper stratum, 



in 



