Vol.  49.] 
GOLD-QUAKTZ  DEPOSITS  OE  PAHANG. 
85 
can  hardly  be  classed  under  either.  These  two  classes  I  describe 
as  : — 
1st.  Lodes. 
2nd.  Irregular  Formations. 
All  the  deposits  have  so  much  in  common  that  they  consist  essen¬ 
tially  of  quartz-veins,  with  which  the  gold  is  associated,  though  it 
may  not  he  actually  confined  to  the  vein-forming  mineral.  The 
differences  between  the  various  deposits  are  rather  those  of  form 
and  extent  than  of  mineralogical  composition,  and  are  due  to  the 
varying  size,  shape,  continuity,  etc.,  of  the  quartz-veins. 
The  first  class  may  be  taken  to  include  all  the  more  regular 
quartz-veins  of  sufficient  size  and  individuality  to  be  worthy  of  the 
name  of  ‘lodes.’  The  second  class  comprises  such  others  as  are 
either  so  irregular  as  to  have  lost  all  resemblance  to  lodes,  or  so 
small  and  numerous  as  to  constitute  an  aggregate  mass  with  the 
stratified  deposits  which  they  impregnate. 
1.  Lodes. 
A  highly  important  feature  of  even  the  first  class  of  so-called 
lodes  is  their  great  irregularity  as  regards  the  conditions  which 
generally  characterize  ‘  true  fissure-lodes,’  for,  although  some  of 
these  are  well  defined  in  short  sections,  they  seldom  maintain  such 
regularity  for  more  than  a  few  score  feet  in  length  ;  and  generally 
they  are  faulted,  split  up,  cut  out,  or  thinned  away  in  the  course 
of  a  few  fathoms.  It  is  noticeable  that  the  greater  the  width  of  a 
quartz-body  the  less  continuous  is  it  usually  found  to  be,  and,  as  a 
general  rule,  the  less  auriferous ;  while  the  small  veins  are  often 
the  most  regular  and  continuous,  and  are  sometimes  very  rich  for 
a  considerable  length  of  their  course.  Most  of  the  larger  lodes 
in  the  Penjom  and  Jelai  districts,  which  have  been  found  to  be 
exceptionally  regular,  have  proved  valueless  for  gold,  and  have 
therefore  not  been  examined  to  any  great  extent. 
A  peculiarity  of  this  auriferous  formation  is  that,  while  hardly 
any  of  the  quartz  is  actually  barren  of  gold  (as  proved  by  hundreds 
of  assays  made  in  the  writer’s  laboratories  at  Singapore  and  Pen¬ 
jom),  its  richer  impregnations  are  confined  to  local  patches,  occurring 
in  the  small  and  indefinite-shaped,  rather  than  in  the  larger  and 
more  symmetrical,  quartz-bodies. 
Rich  streaks  sometimes  follow  one  or  other  wall  of  the  lode,  and 
often  more  gold  is  found  in  the  adjacent  slaty  lode-stuff  than  in  the 
solid  quartz  ;  again,  where  ‘  horses,’  or  masses  of  rock,  occur  in  the 
lode,  these  are  found  to  carry  gold  as  well  as  the  lode  itself.  Some 
of  the  best-yielding  lodes  at  present  known  are  of  a  ‘  mullocky  ’ 
(decomposed)  nature,  and  of  these  the  Western  Lode  of  Raub  and 
the  Mount  Siam  Lode  of  Ketchau,  which  are  in  many  respects 
very  similar,  are  examples.  Embedded  in  yellowish  shales,  both 
these  lodes  have  proved  very  irregular  in  shape,  course,  and  con¬ 
tinuity,  seldom  having  a  definite  wall  even  on  one  side  for  many 
