ALPHA AND PHCEN1X MINES. 25 



amount of preliminary work was necessary to clear away the debris 

 that, falling from the soft decomposed walls of the vein, had been 

 washed down the stopes, and had gradually silted up the tunnels, in 

 some cases partially, in others completely. The back of the drives 

 had also to be supported in many dangerous places by close timber- 

 ing. This task, which exacted considerable care and constant 

 supervision, in order to prevent the occurrence of accidents to the 

 native workmen, was carried out under the direction of Messrs. 

 Hayden and Stonier of this Department, to whom every credit is due 

 for the success which crowned their efforts. 



The method of examination which appeared to me most suited 

 to the requirements of the case was as follows : — Along the whole 

 length of vein exposed in the drives places were marked for sam- 

 pling at equal intervals of ten feet, irrespective of the appearance of 

 the quartz at such places. Samples were then taken, with the aid 

 of the moil and hammer, across the whole width of the vein exposed 

 at the marked points. The broken quartz, which averaged about 

 fib. for every one foot width of vein sampled, was put into 

 numbered bags and sealed, the width of the vein sampled and the 

 number of the bag being noted. The samples thus obtained were 

 forwarded to the office of the Geological Survey in Calcutta, where 

 they were pulverised, quartered down, and assayed under the supervi- 

 sion of Mr. T. H. Holland, Officiating Superintendent, to whom I am 

 much indebted for the care he has taken in checking the results and 

 thus securing for me results on which I could place complete reliance. 

 The work was not inconsiderable, for the number of samples sent for 

 assay was 277 and their total weight about i,ooolbs. The assay 

 returns were made in pennyweights of fine gold per ton of 2,24olbs, 

 In order to arrive at the average gold-contents per ton for any given 

 portion of the vein represented by the length of drive sampled, the 

 assay value of each sample was multiplied by the respective width 

 of the vein at the point where it was taken, and the sum of the 

 products divided by the sum of the widths. The quotient gave the 



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