1872.] ULKICH — TIN-ORE DISCOVERIES IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 



Fig. 2. — Cross section of the Glen-Creek Valley. 



i. e. on the south side the range rises nearly vertically for above 100 ft. 

 and from there pretty steeply towards the summit, whilst on the 

 north there is also first a steep ascent of about 150 feet ; but 

 from there the rise is very gentle for nearly a mile up to the top of 

 the range, the whole presenting a kind of small plateau intersected 

 by shallow gullies, with low flat ridges intervening. The creek runs, 

 except for about 10 chains, through metamorphic rock, a black, 

 hard, flinty slate, without any trace of fossils ; along the 10 chains 

 its bed consists of a highly felspathic rather fine-grained and hard 

 granite *, which is traversed by numerous veins of arsenical and 

 copper pyrites, from | to 6 inches in thickness, enclosing scattered 

 crystals of tin-ore ; but only one solid vein of the latter, about 

 | of an inch thick, has as yet been discovered, the wild and rocky 

 nature of the glen at this place rendering minute prospecting very 

 difficult. 



The granite, as mentioned, is only exposed right in the bed of the 

 creek, the precipitous slopes on both sides consisting of the black meta- 

 morphic slate, the line of contact of the two rocks being clearly visible 

 and presenting no sudden change, but a more or less gradual trans- 

 formation of one rock into the other. The before-mentioned ore-veins 

 run from the granite into the slate, without any interruption or 

 change. The sand and shingle, forming some narrow banks and 

 filling large holes in the creek-bed, have not been properly tested as 

 yet, but will no doubt prove very remunerative by sluicing : a few 

 tin dishes full of the stuff from near the top of one of the banks pro- 

 duced each from one to two ounces of rather small-grained and 

 much waterworn tin-ore. On the southern steep bounding range 

 of the creek the surface detritus is very thin, and contains but little 

 tin-ore ; but the low hills on the above-mentioned plateau on the 

 north side are covered with it from 6 inches to above \\ ft. deep, 

 whilst the small gullies are filled with alluvial drift composed of 

 sandy clay and gravel, from \\ to 4 ft. in thickness. Touching the 

 tin-bearing qualities of the detritus, I saw about fifteen tin-dish pro- 

 spects picked at random off the surface from as many different parts of 

 the area; and these yielded, on being washed, from g oz. up to 6 oz. of 

 fine quality tin-ore per dish, the grains varying from the size of a 

 pin's head to that of a pea, and being more or less crystalline and 

 little waterworn. Two prospects of the bottom stuff of two holes 

 sunk in two of the gullies gave each above 2 lbs. weight of generally 

 coarser and more waterworn ore per dish. 



* This rock shows a striking resemblance to the tin-granite of Beechworth. 

 Victoria, noticed in a previous foot-note. 



