136 
Geology and Physical Geography : 
wealth after crossing the courses of the three auriferous belts above 
described. Though the relations are somewhat obscure, I am 
inclined to class in the next belt to the eastward the gold-fields of 
Kingower, Jones’ Creek, Carisbrook, Majorca, and Clunes north 
of the plains, and the Whim Holes and other workings to the 
south-westward of Ballarat. The deep leads on this belt between 
Clunes and Miners’ Rest should prove payable. 
Proceeding eastward, the next belt may be described as the 
most important in Victoria. From the geographical position of 
the various localities in relation to one another, and to the general 
strike of the Silurian rocks, I regard as constituting exposed por- 
tions of one great auriferous zone the gold-fields of Inglewood,. 
Tarnagulla, and Kay’s diggings, north of the plains of the Loddon 
Valley, and to the south the gold-fields of Smeaton, Kingston, 
Creswick, Ballarat, Buninyoug, and the Durham ; the last-named 
southern localities are continuous with one another as regards 
auriferous character, there being no break from the Durham to 
Smeaton, a distance, north and south, of 25 miles, in the alluvial 
gold-workings, over a width averaging, from cast to west, about 
4 miles. 
Southward from the Durham, the belt becomes poorer in gold, 
the deep ground having so far proved unremunerative, and the 
shallow diggings scattered and patchy. It is noticeable, however, 
that the bed of the Leigh River has been profitably worked for 
20 miles down from the Durham, and that auriferous gravels 
have been traced from its banks under the basaltic plains south of 
Mount Mercer, where the further continuation of the Durham 
gutter is sure to exist. It is, therefore, quite likely that the belt 
of Silurian rocks extending southward from Ballarat may hero 
be found to have regained its auriferous character, and that the 
deep gravels resting on it beneath the basalt may bo as rich in 
gold as those to the north. 
As regards the unexplored portion hidden by basalt, between 
Smeaton and Tarnagulla, the indications are most hopeful ; there 
is every reason to believe that the belt retains its auriferous 
character from the Madam Berry mine to Tarnagulla, a distance 
of 30 miles, and that all the alluvial gravels between the basalt 
on its course will prove profitable. 
On a smaller scale, the flat alluvial country along the Bui Bui 
Creek, between Tarnagulla and Inglewood, is likely to prove 
auriferous in the vicinity of a line between the two places. 
Separated from the Ballarat and Durham auriferous belt of 
country by a broad strip, in which no gold workings of import- 
ance have been discovered, the next to the eastward is the Elaine 
and Mount Doran belt, too isolated to admit of its true relations 
to others being determined ; it is, however, noticeable that the com- 
mencement of the Hepburn Home Paddock lead is approximately 
