Mines and Mineral Statistics. 
105 
Sydney, on the Horton, or, as it is more popularly termed, the 
Big Eiver. This river runs into the Gwydir Eiver, the Gwydir 
in turn losing itself in the Bai'won or Darling Eiver. 
Being on my way last winter (June, 1S73) to visit the tin 
districts of New' England, I turned aside and availed myself 
of the opportunity to pay a hurried visit to the above diamond 
workings. The trip was not a satisfactory one, for, owing to the 
persistent rains and floods, travelling was at times quite imprac- 
ticable, and at all times done under diiliculties; hence, in the 
limited time at my disposal, all hopes of anything like a thorough 
geological examination of the spot liad, to my great regret, to be 
relinquished. However, I was enabled to acquire a certain 
amount of information, which I venture to lay before you this 
evening, in the hope that it may not prove to be altogether devoid 
of interest and value. 
But, in the first place, I may perhaps be permitted, en i)assa7it, 
to preface my remarks upon Bingera by briefly mentioning a few 
of the facts relating to the other nod longer known diamond- 
bearing localities of Australia, but only so far as they throw 
light upon the Bingera deposits. Eor fuller information 1 must 
refer you to the Eev. W. B. Clarke’s Addresses to the Eoyal 
Society of Netv South Wales in the years 1870 and 1872, and 
to the very complete account of the Mudgec diamond district, by 
Mr. j^^orman Taylor and the late Dr. Thomson, road before this 
Society in 1870. 
DiAMoyns IX Australia. 
As early as 18G0 the Eev. AV. B. Clarke mentions the dis- 
covery of diamonds in the Macquarie Eiver, but no information 
is furnished as to the conditions under which they w^ere found, 
and it is not stated whetlicr they occurred in the present river 
bed or in an ancient river di’ift. 
But we have a full account of the geology of the diamond- 
bearing district detailed in the above-mentioned paper by Messrs. 
Norman Taylor and Thomson, and from it we shall see that the 
Mudgee and Bingera districts have many points of resemblance. 
The Mudgee diamond -workings are distant some 170 miles 
south of Bingera, on the Cudgegong Ewer, which runs into the 
Macquarie Eiver, and that again into the Darling Eiver. 
Diamonds were first discovered here in 1807 by the gold dig- 
gers, who neglected them for some time, but in 1809 they were 
worked pretty extensively. The localities lie along the river 
in the form of outliers of *^an old river drift, at varying distances 
from the river, and at heights of 40 feet or so above it. These 
outliers are capped by deposits of basalt, hard and compact, and 
in some eases columnar. This basalt is regarded by Mr. Taylor 
as of Post-Pleiocene age, but this has not been determined directly 
by any fossil evidence. 
