638 Original Articles. [Oct., 



the flanks of Croghankinsella, and tolerably active workings were . 

 carried on by tbe Crown, under the direction of the Commissioners, 

 Messrs. King, Weaver, and Middleton, until the Eebellion of 1798. 

 The Crown during this period raised 944 ounces of gold, of the 

 value of 3,675Z. It was stated recently at a meeting of the 

 Geological Society of Dublin, that a family named Byrne, who 

 were farmers at Croghankinsella, found in the upper part of 

 one of the rivers a mass of metal, about a pound and half in weight, 

 which they supposed to be copper. It remained many years in their 

 possession, and was used by them as a weight. They disposed of it 

 at length to a travelling tinker, who carried it to Dublin, and sold 

 it for a large price to a jeweller in Capel Street. This, or some such 

 circumstance, led the Government to organize the commission for 

 thoroughly examining the valleys of Wicklow. Dr. Haughton, at 

 the meeting already referred to, said " the subject was a most in- 

 teresting one, and the Society was the proper place for the discussion 

 of it. The first point that occurred to him was the extraordinary 

 manner in which the gold occurred in the localities referred to. The 

 large ' model,' which had just been inspected by those present, re- 

 presented a very celebrated Wicklow nugget, which some people said 

 had been presented to George IV., but which others said that that 



monarch took the liberty of stealing out of this country 



The peculiarity of it was that the gold appeared to consist of masses 

 conglomerated or lumped together." This " model " represented the 

 largest well authenticated nugget of rolled gold ever found in Europe, 

 and which weighed twenty-two ounces. 



Excellent descriptions of the Wicklow auriferous district will be 

 found in a memoir by Mr. W. W. Smyth, which embraces also a 

 careful examination of the mines of lead and pyrites.* 



Such is a rapid outline of the history of the search for gold in 

 the British Isles, and judging from the recorded results — these it 

 must be admitted are few — it is not very encouraging. In nearly 

 every case the ordinary process of washing has been alone adopted. 

 It is true some mining works were unsuccessfully carried out in 

 Wicklow, with the hope of discovering the quartz lodes, from which 

 the gold was derived which had been found in the rivers. We have 

 now to examine, with some degree of care, the progress of quartz 

 mining, which has been carried forward for some years near Dolgelly, 

 in Merionethshire. 



In 1843 Mr. Arthur Dean discovered some rich gold ores at the 

 Cwmheisian mines, not far fi;om Dolgelly.f This gentleman's further 

 researches are said "to have proved that a complete system of 

 auriferous veins exist throughout the whole of the Snowdonian or 

 lower Silurian formations of North Wales." Mr. Dean describes this 

 most interesting district as consisting of an immense number of 



* "Smyth on the Mines of Wicklow." 'Memoirs of the Geological Survey 

 of Great Britain.' 



f " Notice respecting the Discovery of Gold Ores in Merionethshire, North 

 Wales," bv Arthur Dean, C.E. 'Report of the Meeting of the British Association 

 for 1844/ * 



