118 
SOUTHERN AFRICA. 
lowing statement of these "Maitland mines" 
was given seven years ago : — 
"In November, 1845, a commencement was 
made with working the old vein of lead, and 
10 cwt. were sent home to England, to be as- 
sayed ; the resnlt of which is, that one ton of 
ore gives 11 cwt. 3 qrs. 5 lbs. of lead, and 
26 ozs. 5 dwts. of fine silver, being nearly the 
same proportions given by Major Yan Dehn, 
some fifty years ago. The veins have been 
followed to the depth of twelve feet ; here the 
ore is twelve inches thick, and mnch purer 
than near the surface, and will probably yield 
seventy or seventy-five per cent. The silver is 
more than double the average of the English 
ore, which only gives 11 oz. to the ton. 
Since commencing the above, a series of veins 
of lead, and lead and copper combined, in a 
highly metaliferous formation, have been dis- 
covered ; where the indications are even better 
than at the original mine, from which it is dis- 
tant abont half a mile, and separated by a river. 
The veins, in this place, cross out on the side 
of a steep hill, and dip, in an opposite direction, 
into the other veins, forming what geologists 
call a fault, (quite common in metaliferous for- 
mations). Where the strata has been raised in 
the form of an immense basin, there is every 
probability of the veins extending for miles^ 
