LTDENBURG AND DE KAAP, TRANSVAAL, SOUTH AFRICA. 587 



n'. Rotunda Creek (p. 584). — The alluvial ground has been 

 worked, although not to any great extent *. 



^'. Orighstad Valley (p. 584). — Upon the farm " Klipheuvel " 

 there is a " large body of alluvial wash, which covers the part of 

 the farm bordering the stream " f- Grood alluvial wash has also been 

 found on the farm " Nauwpoort," a few miles nearer to the head 

 of the valley. 



Terraces. — The above notes refer to the alluvial deposits in the 

 bottoms and on the immediate margins of the valleys ; but in many 

 instances the terrace-gravels, which are relics of an earlier stage of 

 denudation, are also gold-bearing. In Willey's Creek (h') and at 

 Pilgrim's-Rest Creek (V) are high terraces of rich alluvial wash. 

 I have also observed patches of river-gravel at least 800 feet above 

 the present Speckboom Hiver ; but these, so far as I am aware, 

 have not yet been proved auriferous. 



§ 4. Gold and Nuggets. 



The character of the gold obtained from these fields in the 

 Transvaal varies almost with every locality, whether from the reefs 

 or from the alluvium. Some of the reefs in the Kaap Valley (a-f) 

 carry coarse, others fine gold. At De Kaap (a') the gold is fine in 

 the reefs and coarse in the conglomerates ; on the Godwaan Plateau 

 (b') the reef-gold is very fine. JN'ear Lydenburg (d') the reefs 

 produce generally rather coarse gold, although some on Paa.rde- 

 Plaatz (e') is very fine. At Ross Hill (h') and Spitzkop (/) 

 there are large specimens, but the bulk of the gold is very fine ; at 

 Lisbon-Berlyn (Jc') it is coarse, as a rule, with occasional nuggets 

 and some fine gold. Pilgrim's Eest (V) produces fine, and Eotunda 

 Creek (n) coarse gold. In some cases, as at Spitzkop, Pilgrim's 

 Eest, and Eoss Hill, the gold is very fine indeed, like flour, of 

 which the grains can scarcely be distinguished even with a lens. 

 This very fine fiour-gold seems to be confined to the "rotten- 

 reefs ; " the moderately fine to the flat quartz seams ; and the coarse 

 to vertical reefs or true lodes. 



The gold from the alluvium in the Kaap Yallej^, as at Kaffir Spruit 

 (e), is mostly " scaly " (in small fiat pieces), rather pale in colour, 

 not very much waterworn, and with occasional nuggets. At De 

 Kaap (a') it is mostly coarse rich gold, extremely waterworn, having 

 been subjected at least twice to alluvial action — first into the old 

 conglomerates, then from them into the recent deposits. Upon the 

 Godwaan Plateau (/)'), there is fine as well as coarse gold in the 

 alluvium, the wash having been partly derived from the reefs that 

 carry fine gold. At Lydenburg (d') the wash yields gold of a 

 rather light colour, in scales and grains ; about Spitzkop (h', ?*', /) 

 the gold is of good quality, fine in the wash on the higher lands 

 and coarse below. At Lisbon-Berlyn (k') it occurs in a similar 

 manner ; and at Pilgrim's Eest (V) the gold is very rich, coarse, and 

 with nuggets in abundance. 



* See the ' Guide to the Goldfields,' pp. 17, 18. t ' Eeport,' May 1884. 



