208 
Mr. Weaver on the 
and Ballymoneen, Ballymurtagh, Ballygahan, and Kilcashel, Crone- 
bane and Tigrony, Kilmacow and Connery, toward the West Aston 
range on the north; (see PI. 8. No. 7.) 
§ 105. The discovery of native gold in the Ballinvalley stream 
at Croghan Kinshela was accidental, and at first kept secret; but being 
divulged, almost the whole population of the immediate neighbour- 
hood flocked in to gather so rich an harvest, actually neglecting at 
the time the produce of their own fields. This happened about the 
autumn of the year 1796, when several hundreds of people might be 
seen daily assembled digging and searching for gold in the banks and 
bed of the stream. Considerable quantities were thus collected; 
this being, as it subsequently proved, the most productive spot; and 
the populace remained in undisturbed possession of the place for 
nearly six weeks, when Government determined to commence 
active operations. An Act of Parliament was then passed for the 
management of the undertaking, and Mr. Mills, Mr. King, and the 
author of this Memoir, were appointed Directors. Regular stream 
works were soon established, and up to the unhappy period of the 
rebellion in May, 1798, when the works were destroyed, Govern- 
ment had been fully reimbursed its advances ; the produce of the under- 
taking having defrayed its own expenses, and left a surplus in hand. 
In the year 1801, the operations were resumed, when the Directors 
proposed to Government not to confine its views to the^ mere 
collection of the alluvial gold, but to extend the researches, directing 
them more particularly toward the discovery of auriferous veins. 
They were justified, as they conceived, in this proposition by the 
following considerations : 
1. The well-known fact that in the various quarters of the world, 
in America, Africa, Asia, and Europe, auriferous veins often occur 
