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running water, but is concretionary — the result of tbe segregation, around nuclei, of a 
certain amount of the same material, once more widely disseminated throughout the 
surrounding mass. There is no reason to suppose that the gold, any more than the 
silica, was carried from a distance, or emanated from any reef which may be discovered 
by trenching or sinking. 
The following, from a trench in “ No. 1 Bast ” Claim, may be taken as a typical 
section: — 1, Red soil, 1 foot; 2, Silica, 1 foot; 3, Cement, with bands of silica, 3 
inches ; 4, Cement, with horizontal lines of cavities, a yellowish stain, and sma 
concretions of silica, 1 foot 8 inches ; 5, Silica, 0 to 3 inches ; 6, Same as No. 4, 
10 inches ; 7, Cement, with bands of silica, sometimes coming together into a thick bed, 
1 foot 3 inches. 
The silica beds sometimes attain a thickness of three feet, and in some cases thin 
out rapidly, so that it would be impossible to say, without continuous working, whether 
beds seen in shafts a few yards distant are identical or not. On the Range (an 
almost imperceptible rise, perhaps six feet above the general level of the flat), the first 
silica bed is generally met with within three feet of the surface ; but some shafts have not 
met any thick bed. The deepest shaft, when I visited the place in company with Major 
Moore, the Warden for the District, in September, 1891, was fifteen feet. 
Before I left Brisbane for Moondilla, I was permitted to see a parcel of 
specimens, apparently rich in gold. The stone was unquestionably of the same unusual 
character as that which I subsequently saw stacked in large quantities on the Field 
itself, although in the latter I could detect no visible gold. After much careful 
pounding and washing, a very few “ colours ” were, however, obtained. It is now said 
that the specimens exhibited in Brisbane had fine gold ingeniously plastered on them. I 
retained only one of the Brisbane specimens, showing a minute speck of gold,and the latter, 
after the lapse of ten months, has disappeared. I have been unable to obtain a sight of 
the other specimens. There can be little doubt that the short-lived ‘ Moondilla rush 
was the result of a rascally case of “ salting.” The visit of inspection had the effect of 
preventing further mischief, as the Warden agreed with me that the “ prospects did 
not warrant the proclamation of a Goldfield. 
The Moondilla country is, in ordinary seasons, a very dry one, but, the geological 
conditions being favourable to the discovery of artesian water, infinite possibilities of 
profitable working are open should payable gold be found. Even as it is, I consider 
that the discovery of gold although in minute quantities must attract attention to the 
presence of the precious metal under conditions which are certainly new', and which 
may yet prove to be of importance, as a similar formation to that of Moondilla is 
reported to cover extensive areas in the West. 
J. 
