June i, 1888.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
805 
but the fact remains that the pursuit of gold in that 
locality was abandoned, notwithstanding the fact that 
exploitation was pushed up the river to its source 
nearly, as well as along its tributaries with the 
same reported "success." The reflection upon this 
is that tho gold is there still as it is also in 
Dolosbage and Nuwara liiiya, whero it was " dis- 
covered " at the same time or immediately after. 
It wan also " discovered " near Negombo, near 
which place the Mahaoya river, the natives said, 
" was so impregnated with gold, that the very 
waters taste of it." (" Gold in Ceylon " page 16.) 
Again in 1808 ("Gold in Ceylon" page 58) gold was 
discovered " in paying quantities " in Saffragam 
and in 1881 by Mr. Auwardt (I) at Galle. Here 
then, are proofs of its presence from Nuwara Eliya 
to the sea. What is to be done ? Government will 
not assist if it does not obstruct the search for 
it. Ceylon has a wide reputation for the energy 
of its colonists yet in a country famed from the 
remotest antiquity for its gems and gold, and with 
all these evidences staring us ip the face, no action — 
not even the feeblest, is taken to secure this 
abounding wealth, nor to prove its existence 
" in paying quantities." Is the present move- 
ment to collapse as all previous searches 
have done ? I confess there is not much evi- 
dence yet of the existence of prolific gold-dig- 
gings at Akuressa, not enough to cause any rush 
to the place to peg off claims. Syndicates are 
very useful " institutions," but are often too 
small and select as "Companies" are often too large 
and unwieldly. Instead of a "private" syndicate, 
consisting of nobody knows who or in addition 
thereto, — for the more the better I and the sooner 
we shall know, or be put out of the misery of 
uncertainty, — let there be at once inaugurated a 
public .Syndicate with a capital large enough to 
employ an experienced European, with a sufficient 
labor force to prospect, or exploit all likely fields, 
with the sanction, and, if possible, the assistance 
of Government so far as the promise or concession 
to it of a'Jree grant of the first claim made for 
tegular operations. If Government can be induced 
to grant this "concession" of say 1,000 acres or 
more when found under a Government license to 
search anywhero and everywhere, there should be 
no difficulty in raising a couple of thousand pounds 
for immediate operations. The capital should be large 
enough} to enable the Syndicate to offer a substan- 
tial reward to native diggers who should report as to 
its likely ground based on genuine discoveries made by 
themselves. In likely localities the Syndicate should 
instruct the villagers in the art of prospecting for 
gold, and furnish them with the few simple uten- 
sils necessary for that purpose. This, backed by 
the offer of a reward in the event of success, would 
seta good many of them at work openly, and 
others to imitato them on the Bly, and mutual 
jealousy and self-seeking would prevent anything 
liko concealment for long together. 
1 don't think much more remains to be said in a 
first papor on this subject. Practical and experienced 
gold-diggers are to bo four.d in Ceylon, and anyone 
has only to turn toy OUT publication, "Gold in Cey- 
lon", to tind oil that geology has to teach about it, 
in a condensed practical and handy form. 
The word " roof" would appear to be a miner' 
term not used in tho science, which speaks only of 
"viiiiB" and "rooks" .,i,J " lodos." Bat "reef" 
is a very oxpressivo term os indicating the looky 
ridges in and through which tho auriferous veins 
penetrate. Hut spangles of free gold exist also dif- 
fused through certain quartz without any vein-), 
while auriferous quartz has to bo crushed by heavy 
and eipen- 1 vi luiu-lnnery. 1 doubt i( mUOaoi Ulil 
uxuis in Coyiuu, and if ." veins " of gold or gold 
ore existed in exposed rocks, somebody would have 
spotted them before now. The probability is that 
the gold bearing reefs are covered with more or less 
soil, except in unexplored and unexplorable ravines 
and gorges, and all that can be done with much 
hope of success is to prospect for rich deposits in 
the " alluvium " (?'. e. the subsoil lying between the 
surface soil and the rocks below), and to follow these 
upwards for nuggets and downwards for dust, and 
to dig for the " reef" if not visible in the country 
around. J. 
CORAL REEFS AND* ISLANDS : LECTURE 
AT THE ROYAL INSTITUTION. 
Mr. John Murray, of the Challenger Expedition, 
recently leotured at the Royal Institution on " The 
Structure, Origin, and Distribution of Coral Reefs 
and Islands." Coral reefs, he said, were the most 
colossal and striking accumulations of organic life 
in the world. They were found in certain tropi- 
cal regions, and were masses of carbonate of lime 
secreted from ocean waters by countless myriads 
of marine organisms. The bulk was made up of 
dead skeletons and shells, the margin only being 
clad in a living mantle of plants and animals. This 
was specially the case on the outward and sea- 
ward face of the reef, where gaped millions of 
hungry moutks at all times, and to whose power 
of secreting carbonate of lime from sea water the 
coral reef owed its origin. So striking was the 
result, that it seemed at first sight impossible to 
deny designing genius to the tiny architects of 
these coral worlds. There was, however, another 
force ever at work in the ocean, in a sense 
antagonistic to the secretion of carbonate of lime by 
organisms, which had much to do with fashioning the 
more characteristic features of coral reefs. This was 
the power of sea water to dissolve all dead car- 
bonate of lime. No sooner did life quit coral 
structures than there was a silent but sure burial of 
their carcasses in a state of solution. There was 
no more certain oceanographio fact. The state of 
solution varied with temperature, with pressure, 
and with the amount of carbonic acid present in the 
water. It was on the reciprocal play of these two 
opposing forces, the one vital and the other ohemi- 
cal, that science could alone rely in solving the 
problems connected with oceanic deposits and coral 
reefs. Coral formations were essentially structures, 
as Mr. Murray showed, belonging to the great ooeans 
and oceanic basins. They were dots of land 
within the oceanic areas that might be compared 
or contrasted with the small salt lakes found scat- 
tered over our world's continental areas. Accord- 
ingly, a rapid survey was taken of the more generic 
phenomena of the great ocean basins, leading on 
to a better appreciation of the questions con- 
nected with coral reefs. These great ocean basins 
were found to occupy over two-thirds of the earth's 
surface, and to have a mean depth of over two 
miles ; their central spaces took up about oue 
half of tho globo's surface, and the average depth 
of these abysmal regions, as they were termed, was 
over three miles. The areas thus di .lgnated wcro vast 
undulating plains, sometimes rising to less than two 
miles from the ocean surface or again sinking to a 
depth of four or five miles. Voloanic cones wre 
found to riso singly or in clusters from the 
subruarino plains. When these fiery cones shot up 
above the ocean level, they formed islaud groups 
such aa the Azores, the Sin ' <-ich, tho Fiji, and 
tho Society Islands. But in....y more of the v 1- 
canoos wero submarine. When the "Challenger" 
sounded along the west coaPt of Africa, there wis 
no suspicion that she was sailing ovor submerged 
corn's, lint hinf. then, tho sonndings of tolo- 
grupu ship* huvi yorr«cily mapped out j fower 
