Mines and Mineral Statistics. 
136 
lu tlie Blue Mountains eruptions of trap have hurst through 
the Upper Coal Measures and Ilawkesbury sandstones, and over- 
flowed them in places. The rich chocolate soil giving rise to such 
a luxuriant growth of vegetation on Mount Wilson has resulted 
from the surface decomposition of one of these trap dykes, 
W'hich consists of bard dense augitic basalt containing crystals 
of glassy felspar (oligoclase). I believe this basalt to be 
of tertiary age, and its emission may have been probably con- 
temporaneous with some of the extensive volcanic eruptions in 
the AVestern districts. 
Gold. 
Of alluvial gold two fine nuggets are showm from “M'Guiggan’s 
Lead,” about nine miles from Parkes. The larger nugget is pure 
gold, of dark colour, and weighs 22 ounces 18 dwts. 12 grs. ; the 
other is scarcely less in size, but the gold is interspersed with 
quartz, indicating the existence of some promising reef, from 
which it originally came, in proximity to the place wlicre it was 
discovered. 
Bich aui'iferous quartz from the reefs in the Xorthern, AVestern, 
and Southern Gold Pields is exhibited. Amongst others are 
some fine specimens from the reef adjoining Foley’s Folly, near 
Nundlc, Peel Eiver; from the reefs of Bingera, Tambaroora, and 
Oberon ; from the “ Sandstone Beef,” Cowarbec, showing thin 
loaf-gold on the cleavage planes of the stone ; and from the Ade- 
long reefs, containing gold, galena, 2 )y rites, and blende. On the 
Great Victoria Beef, Adelong, good stone is being raised from a 
depth of 525 feet. AVith the above arc specimens from Major’s 
Creek, near Braidwood, collected by the AVarden, Mr. Charles 
de Boos ; they arc from a quartz reef two feet wide at a depth of 
125 feet, and contain gold, sulphides of load, silver, iron and 
antimony, and cobalt. 
From Mitchell’s Creek, county of Lincoln, Mr. J. Chiplin sent 
samples of pyritous quartz from a depth of SO feet, the reef being 
4 feet thick. Some thousands of tons of this quartz crushed, 
averaged 15 dwts. of gold per ton, and the pyrites yielded 10 
ounces of gold per ton. 
A specimen from Mr. J. Arkius, Mining Begistrar, Cowra, con- 
tains coarse gold embedded in brown iron ore. 
Quartz from Currajong, Billabong Gold Field, from Strick- 
land’s reef, eight miles north from Forbes, and from the Bay- 
spring reef, with specimens of conglomerates, sandstones, slates, 
and limestone, illustrative of the gold rocks (Palscozoic) in the 
Lachlan District, have also been contributed by the AVarden, 
Mr. Fred. Dalton, who in his annual report for last year says 
that one of the quartz reefs yielded from 100 tons, 1 ouuce 7 dwts. 
of gold per ton. The Dayspriiig Company have crushed between 
