August i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
9i 
failure. The stronger attractions of the Transvaal 
have diverted from Natal the money that might other- 
wise have been spent in the colony. There are 
nevertheless local advantages wbioh favour the success- 
ful working of low grade ores the existence of many 
veins of whioh character is pronounced to be an 
" indisputable fact." Of the Fields themselves 
we are told by Mr. Nevill that the northern 
—or Umsinga and Uuivoti Fields — " differ in many 
respects from those in the southern portion of the 
colony." They belong to a later period, and lie in 
a region that has suffered less denudation than the 
Uuizmto district. They bear a resemblance to the 
Swaziland Fields. They show few traces of felspar 
or granite, nor are the veins as a rule " intrusive." 
The much-talked-of " Golden Eagle," declared on 
June 19th 1887, exhibited quartz carrying visible gold 
in considerable quantity. " The reef was cased on 
both sides with a belt of soft, yellow clay sha'e, 
which was also found to carry gold. Seven tons of 
ore was sent down and crushed in Pietermaritzburg, 
yielding 56 ounces of gold ; but a similar amount 
taken from the 30-feet level wis not, so I under- 
stand, a productive. Machinery for the extraction of 
the gold is on the ground, but has not yet been 
erected. A water-race from the 'Ngobevu to the mill 
site is in course of construction." Eastwood's Reef 
gave a return of four or five dwts. per ton from a 
crushing of three tons. Pannings have shown very 
^■ood results at Mares, where a drive of 104 feet 
has been carried forward. A tunnel 103 feet has al- 
ready been driven in from the river bank at the large 
Umsinga block of 56 claims. An inclined shaft 30 feet 
deep has proved the presence of auriferous ore at 
that depth. At the " Try Again" prospecting area a 
drive 190 feet long has been carried out, and at 
" Dents' " a 77 feet drive is reported. Four other pro- 
perties are being worked nt the Umsinga, but public 
attention will be more attracted by wh it tne Comis- 
eiouer has to say concerning "Sinclair's Beef" in Utn- 
voti Oouuty, the proprietor having been awarded and 
paid the bonus of £1,000 offered for the first discovery 
of gold in payable quantities. Thirteen pennyweights 
of gold were extracted from a small test crush- 
ing, the tailings carrying 5.6 dwts. to the ton. The 
Commissioners considers, however, that this ore will 
require special treatment ; and it is to be hoped that 
ere long the means will be forthcoming to crush the 
several hundred tons of quarts now at " grass." The 
Umziuto Fields are described by Mr. Nevill in en- 
couraging terms, and at Dumisa's we have the only 
record of active milling work. The 5-stamp battery 
opi ned by the Governor last October has yielded al- 
together 142 ounces of gold "but there is no reliable 
estimate as to the amount of quartz from which this 
result was obtained." As the development and lay- 
ing out of this mine are now being proceeded with 
we may hope for fuller results in course of time. 
The Happy Thought Reef yielded ore which under the 
Commissioner's supervision gave 10 dwts. to the ton, and 
3.6 from the tailing. The other reefs in this district 
show similarly moderate results from small trial crush- 
ings and assays; and the c inclusion we arrive at 
after a persual of the repot t — which commands con- 
fidence from its matter-of-fact tone, and entire free- 
dom from glow or bias— is that the Gold Fields of 
Natal areas yet only in an experimental stage of deve- 
lopment, and that the results so far obtained are more 
riicuunigiug than conclusive in their character. It is 
quite evident that a vigorous expenditure of capital 
is yet requried iu order to test the proper value of 
our local Fields, and we cannot but regret that a 
fraction of the mouey that has been lavished, and 
olteu squandered, in the Transvaal, has not been spent 
in the exploitation of these gold-bearing formations 
within our o - n borders. There is gold in Natal be- 
yond all doubt, but in what quantity and with what 
working prospects, have yet to bo ascertained. Might 
not £10,000 or £20,000 of the colony's surplus 
have been usefully spent in opening up some 
promising vein both at the UmsiDga or the Umzinto ? 
If the results should be favourable the out- 
lay would be rapid with large profit. If they were 
not, the knowledge gained would be of manifest value 
in more senses than one. The public at any rate would 
have the satisfaction of knowing that the test applied 
was impartial and trustworthy, being absolutely dis- 
sociated from any speculative or selfish interests. 
In his references to coal the Commissioner stands 
on more solid ground. Since Mr. North's report 
appeared there has no longer been any room for doubt 
as to the vast extent and excellent quality of the 
Natal coal deposits. Captain Nicholls wisely takes 
tbat fact for granted, and merely confines his com- 
ments to the operations of the several companies and 
properties. It appears from Mr. Hunter's return that 
daring last year the railway Department used 
6,250 tons of coal from Enelaud's Laagte and 2,109 
tons from Dundee. The consumption of Natal coal 
by other buyers is not likely to have been con- 
siderable. What it will be before this year is out 
we should not like to say. In a few months the 
Dundee coal deposits will be connected by rail with 
the sea port, and a new era will at last have 
been practically entered upon. We are disappointed 
to find that the operations of the diamond drill 
on the coast have not so far disclosed any valu- 
able coal seam. Five borings have been made in 
Victoria County to depths of 392, 248, 322, 117, and 
369 feet respectively, but "no seams of coal of any 
practical value have been met with." At More- 
wood's Cove the driil was driven to a point in 
excess of Mr. North's recommendations, without en- 
couragement. At Umhlanga a depth of 739 feet had 
been reached up to the date of the report. Two or 
three seams of coal, of a few inches in thickness, 
were found at a depth of about 500 feet, and as the 
strata penetrated are of a promising character Captain 
Nicholls proposes to carry this bore -hole still further; 
a very proper decision. All inspecting geologists have 
admitted the possibility of coal deposits being found 
in the formations lying close to the sea shore, and it 
is but right, in view of the enormous value of coal 
seams found so near the port, to make the search on 
the coast extensive and exhaustive. From a colonial 
point of view the Newcastle Fields can bi left to pri- 
vate enterprise. No one questions their value or the 
facilities they offer for easy working. The case of 
possible coal deposits on the coast stands on a different 
footing. The saving of railway transport along a 
difficult line would be an enormous gain to the pros- 
pects of the industry from a shipping point of view, 
and the depth of a good seam, discovered, say, fifty 
miles from the port, would be a compai atively smail 
matter when compared with the reduced cost of 
delivery at the harbour mouth. We trust, therefore, 
that the Government will steadily prosecute its boring 
operations along the coast line, even though it may 
be found expedient to employ another drill in explor- 
ing promising localities further up-country — Natal 
Mercury. 

THE FUTURE OF THE BURMA RUBY 
MINES. 
The name of Mr. Moritz Unger figures so largely in 
the Blue Books upon the Burmah Ruby Mines, that 
I was in no way surprised when I received your in- 
structions to interview him upon this interesting subject. 
I found him at his residence in the Boulevard 
Haussma;.n, an I was at once received by him in an 
apartmert, half library, half bureau, that positively 
bristled with souvenirs of his two visits to the realm 
of the Lord of the White Elephant. 
First and foremost, one of the golden umbrellas that 
served to mark any one over whom it was extended 
as a very august personage indeed, and t'oat under the 
old regime was conferred almost as exclusively as is 
the Most Noble and Distinguished Order of the 
Garter in our own country — trophies of arms, silks 
of the richest, a score or two of precious nicknacks from 
Theebaw's Palace, jewelled playthings of the fallen 
monarch's children — and I know not w hat. 
" These volumes," said Mr. Unger, opening some 
bulky, gon»eousl) hound and heavily gilt books, "are 
