284 REMARKABLE GOLD NUGGETS. 



148.— Found at Ballaarat, Victoria ; much, water-worn. Gross weight,. 

 10 dwts. 19 grs. Specific gravity, 18 - 871. Assay : Gold per cent., 99 - 18 j 

 Carats c. grs. 23-3£. 



149. — Found in Kildonan, Sutherlandshire, Scotland. Gross weight, 

 troy, 10 dwts. 



150. — Found at Kingower, Victoria ; it contained 61 "9 per cent, gold, and 

 0.25 silver — the remainder composed of carbonate of bismuth and oxide of 

 iron. Its appearance led many dealers in gold to suppose it was spurious 

 metal. Any particles dropped into an acid effervesced strongly. An uncom- 

 monly rare specimen. Gross weight, troy, 5 dwts. Specific gravity, lTl. 



The following data are deduced from the above Record. 1st. That 

 gold in nuggets, even of large size, may be found on the very surface, 

 of the ground as in No. 4, and at a depth of 400 feet as in No. 14. 

 2. Gold in large masses may be found, as in No. 14, without a particle 

 of quartz, or any other non-metallic body. 3. Though it is usual to 

 find with nuggets quartz (oxide of silicon), alumina (oxide of alumi- 

 num), and rust (oxide of iron), these solid bodies being the most 

 abundant in nature, yet such gold is also found with substances which 

 are not common, such as iron pyrites, black oxide of manganese, and 

 the very rare salt carbonate of bismuth. 4. It is interesting to observe 

 that where carbonate of bismuth has been found along with gold, as 

 at Kingower, the same locality has yielded an unusual number of large 

 nuggets. 5. That gold in large masses, as in No. 1, is almost as pure, viz., 

 23 carats 3 1 - c. grains, as the very finest gold-dust, viz., 23 carats 3§ c. 

 grains. 6. The purest nuggets, like native silver and iron, have never been 

 found absolutely free from alloy, that is chemically pure. 7. Silver and 

 iron form the usual alloy of the purest gold in large masses, and these 

 metals are also found in the purest gold-dust. 8. The variety of substances 

 recorded above as accompanying masses of gold, seem to confirm the fact 

 lately announced, that though gold be obtained almost invariably in the 

 metallic state, yet bike silver and all the common metals, it may also be 

 found as an oxide. Dr. Percy, of London, having produced minute traces 

 of gold from litharge (protoxide of lead) white lead (carbonate of lead) and 

 sugar of lead (acetate of lead), and I have — after many careful experiments 

 —extracted gold from the red crystals of tin-ore (peroxide of tin) found at 

 the Ovens. 9. The largest mass of gold on record (No. 1) was found in 

 Victoria in 1858 ; this pepita was almost twice as heavy and valuable as 

 the great Russian nugget found in 1842, and four times that of the famous 

 " grain of gold " found in Hayti in 1502. 10. As the largest lumps (pepitas 

 Nos. 1 and 2) of gold ever known were discovered in Victoria, though not 

 until six years after the gold discovery there, it is probable that still larger 

 masses will yet be found. 



Assay Office, Melbourne. 



