86 
MR.  H.  M.  RECHEK  ON  THE 
[Feb.  1893, 
feet,  while  the  quartz-body  varies  from  a  few  inches  to  many  feet  in 
thickness  in  the  course  of  a  few  fathoms.  They  are  generally  split 
up  into  several  branches,  among  which  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish 
and  to  follow  the  main  vein. 
Within  a  few  feet  of  the  largest  swellings  the  quartz  is  apt  to 
thin  out,  and  continue  only  as  a  mere  thread ;  sometimes  it  changes 
to  a  streak  of  clay,  or  pinches  out  altogether,  and  on  cross-cutting 
the  lode  it  is  sometimes  found  to  have  continued  in  a  parallel  course, 
which  may  or  may  not  be  connected  with  the  first,  and  be  equally 
rich,  or  be  quite  devoid  of  gold.  These  lodes  have  everywhere  been 
found  to  be  very  irregular  in  dip,  and  at  Ketchau  all  trace  of 
regular  downward  continuity  was  apparently  lost  in  the  upper 
workings;  though  in  levels  50  feet  deeper  several  lodes  were 
found  of  quite  different  nature,  and  having  no  connexion  with  those 
above. 
The  nearest  approach  to  the  conditions  of  true  lodes  appears  to 
be  at  the  Kermoi  and  Silencing  Mines,  which  are  situated  on  a 
small  right  tributary  of  the  River  Jelai ;  and  it  is  worthy  of  notice 
that  these  lodes  occur  in  talcose  schists  instead  of  shales. 
From  the  irregular  distribution  of  gold  in  these  Pahang  lodes 
they  must  be  characterized  as  distinctly  ‘patchy/  We  have  no 
information  of  the  changes  experienced  in  the  richness  of  the  Raub 
Western  Lode,  which  has  been  worked  to  a  greater  extent  than  an¬ 
other  in  the  country. 
At  Kermoi  the  average  quality  of  the  lodes  first  explored  was 
found  to  be  very  inferior,  but  patches  showing  gold  were  sometimes, 
and  have  lately  been  more  frequently,  met  with. 
At  Ketchau  the  first  discoveries  of  large  quartz-bodies  were  of 
very  poor  quality.  This  was  on  Mount  Siam  Lode,  where  the 
average  quartz  assays  only  a  few  dwts.  to  the  ton,  but  in  which 
small  shoots  were  found  yielding  quartz  of  extraordinary  richness, 
in  the  vicinity  of  which  the  bulk  of  the  vein  is  also  of  high  quality. 
These  patches  were  of  very  limited  extent,  and  cut  out  in  all  direc¬ 
tions,  but  most  abruptly  and  completely  in  depth.  The  rich  shoots 
were  more  or  less  separated  from  the  main  quartz-lode  and  4  cased’ 
with  dyke-like  rock,  though  no  actual  intrusion  of  trap  was  seen  in 
contact  with  the  lode  at  this  level.  This  igneous  rock  (a  highly 
felspathic  porphyr}^)  is,  however,  found  in  considerable  development 
at  a  somewhat  greater  depth,  and  with  it  are  associated  the  lodes 
already  alluded  to. 
The  most  common  and  widely  distributed  occurrence  of  quartz  in 
these  rocks  is  in  the  form  of  very  narrow  veins,  sometimes  main¬ 
taining  their  individuality  in  numerous  and  parallel  recurrences  as 
miniature  lodes  at  distances  varying  from  a  few  inches  to  several 
feet  apart,  at  others  forming  a  reef-like  mass  by  proximity  and 
confluence  of  a  number  of  such  parallel  veins,  and  again  impreg¬ 
nating  zones  of  rock  in  infinite  number  and  varying  directions, 
intersecting  and  indefinitely  disintegrating  one  another  to  form 
what  may  be  called  4  stockworks.’  It  is  probably  from  these 
minute  veins  in  one  form  or  another,  rather  than  from  the  larger 
