101 
river) weighed not quite ten ounces ; a second eight ounces , 1 and 
by August 1859 the total amount of the produce was estimated 
at about £150,000. 
The mode of occurrence of gold in the Province of Nelson is 
quite different from that in Australia, in the Colony of Victoria. 
The Australian gold is originally derived from quartz reefs passing 
through fossiliferous strata of Silurian 2 age, which are but very little 
metamorphosed ; and the gold is obtained partly as alluvial gold 
from deposits of gold drift 3 (“wash-dirt” of the miner), partly 
from the quartz veins themselves , by crushing the quartz , and by 
subsequent washing and amalgating processes. As the gold allu- 
via s are already nearly all washed over, an extensive system of 
quartz mining has been begun within the last few years, and the vital 
question still awaiting its final and decisive settlement is, whether 
the quartz veins, — which close to the surface were sometimes found 
to be unusually rich (the auriferous quality of them has, however, 
hitherto been tested only to a depth of 800 to 400 feet) — will 
continue at a still greater depth to be so rich in gold as to pay 
for the mining. 4 
1 In Australia nuggets have been found of more than 1 cwt. in weight. The 
ct Welcome Nugget™ found on the ll lh January, 1858, on Bakery Hill near Ballarat in 
Victoria, the largest of all nuggets hitherto found, weighed 184 pounds 9 ounces 
16 dwts., and was valued at £10,000. 
2 A large portion of the gold-fields of Victoria falls within the range of the 
so-called Bala beds (lower Silurian), containing numerous fossils, especially remark- 
able graptolites (Diplograpsus, Didymograpsus , etc.) and crustaceae (Hymenocaris Sal- 
teri). The slates of Castlemaine and Bendigo are full of them. 
3 The gold drift deposits are divided by the Australian geologists into old-plio- 
cene, new-pliocene, and post-pliocene deposits. 
4 Experience seems more and more to confirm the views of the Australian 
geologists, Messrs. A. Selwyn and ( r . Ulrich , that the reefs of gold-quartz in Victoria 
are real mineral veins, which render a permanent system of mining in a downward 
direction possible, as on the veins of silver, lead, tin and copper ore in Great Britain 
and Germany, while the prevailing opinion had been, that the gold decreased in 
proportion to the increasing depth of the mine. G. Ulrich has proved upon the 
quartz reefs of Victoria the most different ores, such as iron pyrites, arsenical 
pyrites, copper pyrites, galena, grey antimony ore, copper glance, bismuth glance, 
native copper, and native silver. The greatest depth hitherto reached in the gold 
mines in Victoria is 460 feet, and at this depth quartz has been obtained contain- 
ing over 5 ounces gold per ton. 
