I 93 
1878.] The Gold and Placer Mines of Wicklow. 
only in small quantities. It may be mentioned that in the 
old working, in the wood, tin ore was more frequently found 
than higher up, or to the south-west, where it is rarer. Tin 
ore is also recorded for the working at Ballinagappoge, one 
of the tributaries of the Aughrim River. 
Most of the gold is in “ eye-sills,” or small particles ; in 
some places, however, “ large gold ” or grains occur, while 
here and there are nuggets, ranging from 21*5, the larger, 
to half an ounce ; in one placer, a little N.E. of Balli- 
nasilloge ford, many nuggets averaging from 3 to 5 ounces, 
one being 11 ounces, are said to have been lifted. In Bal- 
lintemple there was a great deal of gold, but it was nearly 
all in “ eye-sills.” The placer of Knockmiller is said to have 
been very productive, “ large gold ” and “ eye-sills” occurring 
together, while in Coolballintaggart “ large gold ” was prin- 
cipally found. 
In the “ Elements of Geology,” recently published by 
Prof. Le Conte, of the University of California, we learn that 
the California placers are below slopes on which there is 
always an outcup of an auriferous quartz vein. In Wicklow 
no auriferous quartz vein has been discovered, but in all cases 
the placers are below the slopes on which certain iron ore 
lodes crop out. On this account all the different observers 
seem to believe that there must be relations between these 
lodes and the gold in the placers ; furthermore, fragments of 
these ores always occur in the sand associated with the 
gold. However, in none of the lodes above the placers has 
gold been found, although farther north-east, west and east 
of the Ovoca, it occurs in the gaussen at Ballymurtagh and 
Cronebane, and in the remarkable mineral Kilmacoite, or 
“ silver-blende,” at Connarry. 
The major portion of the gold is abraded, and apparently 
has been drifted to its present site ; but some nuggets and. 
many of the eye-sills are frosted, as if they had grown in the 
drift, similar to some of the gold found in the “deep placers”' 
of California ; other pieces are attached to quartz, especially 
in the vicinity of the “ Red Holes,” a swampy patch at the 
mearing of Ballyvally and Ballinasilloge, as if somewhere 
in the latter townland there is a still undiscovered auriferous 
quartz vein. It must, however, be allowed that the chances 
in favour of the latter are small, as hundreds of tons of the 
quartz erratics were brought to Ballintemple, and crushed, 
without even a particle of gold being got to repay the trouble 
and expense. 
In the Red Hole Mines, at present being worked by 
Mr. F. Acheson, we learn that the surface-accumulations in 
VOL. viii. (n.s.) o 
