24 
“ The lower portion of this series of schists— that which extends along the north- 
north-eastern part of the field, and includes Mount Davenport and the Upper and 
Lower Cape— consists of mica and hornblende schists into which granite has intruded 
to such an extent that the area occupied by the granite is greater than that of the 
original schists. There is also an interbedded and somewhat laminated granite in this 
portion of the field, which may be duo to extreme alteration of the schists. 
“ Above this is a great thickness of mica schists with thin beds of hornblende 
schists ; these rocks are softer, and have been worn away to a great extent by denuda- 
tion, leaving large alluvial flats, with here and there small rounded hills of somewhat 
harder schist, which stand out prominently. 
The highest portion of the series — that extending along the south-south- 
western jiortiou of the field consists chiefly of quartzite with hardened schists, which, 
on account of their hardness, have resisted denudation, and have determined the rough 
and hilly nature of this part of the field. The long spui’, running in an east-south- 
easterly direction from the main dividing range at Mount Miller to Mount Eemarkable, 
a distance of about 30 miles, is composed almost entirely of quartzite. 
“ Mr. Daintree, on lithological grounds, divided these beds into three divisions— 
the Upper, Middle, and Lower. In the absence, however, of any fossil contents — and 
they are not likely to be met with in rocks so much metamorphosed — and as the deposi- 
tion of the strata appears to have been continuous throughout, I do not think there is 
sufficient reason for keeping up these divisions. 
With reference to the age of the schists, I can say nothing more than that they 
are the oldest rocks of the district, as the granite to the north-north-east does not form 
the base or bed on which they were originally deposited, as intimated by Daintree, but 
has since intruded into the schists.” 
Free gold is found in the alluvia of the present watercourses, generally in the 
vicinity of rich quartz reefs. But an older fragmentary drift, which Mr. Daintree calls 
Pliocene, yields gold of a rounded waterworn character, independent of any local source 
of supply. Several well-defined leads are mentioned, which, “down the Cape so far 
as the Low^er Diggings,” and down Eunning Creek as far as the junction of Golden 
Gully, may be considered as the representative of old river channels ; beyond these 
points, to the south and east, it can be regarded in no other light than that of accumu- 
lated sediment from a vast lake or sea. It has been found in working that where this 
supjjosed old watercourse is narrowest the gold is most concentrated; but when it 
becomes broader and the drift deeper, the gold is found to be too scattered to pay for 
the additional cost of mining. 
Of these Lower Cape Diggings, Mr. Bands {he. cif. p. 6) gives tho following 
further particulars : — 
“ Tho Lower Cape, or Capoville as it was formerly called, is situated on the Capo 
Elver, about 3 miles above Hawthorn Vale Station. Nearly all the workings at the 
Lower Cape are on what is known as tho ‘ Deep Lead.’ This W'as worked first about 
eighteen years ago, and attracted a population of over 3,000 ; now the population is not 
over 30, including the Chinamen. 
“ The lead has been worked in a southerly direction from the river for 21- miles. 
The lead is both narrow and shallow ; near the river it becomes deeper, and widens out 
towards the south. Near the surface the drift consists of a decomposed schistose 
material with pebbles of quartzite, granite, and quartz throughout it. The waqii, in 
which the gold occurred, consists of large rounded pebbles of a glassy-looking white 
quartz, cemented loosely together by a schistose debris. Tho wash, as a rule, w^s from 
1 foot to 18 iuche.3, and in places as much as 2 feet, iu thickness. The gold was 
