No. 23.— 1881.] 



GOLD. 



13 



Although the strike of the rock is peculiar in the Neilgherries 

 E.N.E., yet the auriferous reefs run N.N.W., corresponding 

 with the gneiss a little further to the North. The general run 

 of the rocks here is N. to N.W. 



As on the Wynaad, we'have an absence of intrusive rock — no 

 dykes, porphyritic masses, or basalts. It has been observed 

 that the auriferous belts are richest where micaceous and 

 chloritic rocks occur. Strange to say, in the cuttings of the 

 railway into our hill district, and the various cuttings on the 

 public roads, no prominent reefs have been crossed. Probably 

 one or more may be met with on the extension of the railway 

 from Nawalapitiya to Nanu-oya. In several parts the country 

 is traversed by large persistent reefs of quartz, with numerous 

 narrow seams and veins diverging from them and often trace- 

 able into decomposed lithomargic earth. Some good examples 

 of these are to be found in the Balangoda, Pussellawa, 

 Kamboda, and Dolosbage districts. 



The character of the vegetation in prospecting for gold is of 

 great assistance in Australia, where each formation is charac- 

 terized by distinct forms of vegetation, but in Ceylon we have 

 no guidance, a9 the mountainous zone is but one formation. 



Gold occurs in three chief forms : — 



1. — As scattered grains or nuggets in alluvial deposits, 

 having been set free by natural causes from its matrix. 



2. — In grains and leaves in numerous veins, chiefly quartz, 

 still in the matrix, but not with other metals. This is called 

 free gold. 



3. — Associated (but not chemically combined) with numerous 

 other metallic compounds, such as arsenides, sulphides, &c, 

 generally classed under the term pyrites, found in veins of quartz 

 and other rock. 



In the first form, I have met with it in the alluvium of the 

 Deduru-oya beyond Kurunegala. The particles were exceed- 

 ingly small, and other metallic matters were not uncommon. 



