GOLD-BEARING ROCKS. 
157 
nate to that just described. It is found again in milky and 
granular quartz in veins, carrying the sulphurets of copper and 
iron and sulphuret of iron by itself, together with galena, and 
sometimes sulphuret of zinc. These veins may traverse argil¬ 
laceous chlorite and talcose slates, or all the other rocks which 
belong to the mineral district, as gneiss, hornblende, or granite. 
In the last place it may be contained in a false vein, or rather 
beds, as the depositions are parallel with the strata or lamina. 
They are always thin, rarely exceeding twelve inches in width. 
The metal in this case is confined to a well defined strip of 
rock, but not limited by distinct walls. The eye can not detect 
a difference between that portion of the rock which is aurifer¬ 
ous and that which is not. These false veins or beds being 
narrow, may be lost, unless the miner resorts constantly to the 
use of the pan for testing the presence of gold. These strips 
are usually very rich, and often yield from twenty-five to one 
hundred dollars per bushel of ore. 
The gold of the soil is derived from rocks broken down by 
the ordinary atmospheric agents. In its dissemination in the 
soil, it has obeyed the same law of distribution as all the bodies 
which have great weight. As its gravity exceeds that of all 
other substances which may be expected in the soil, it will be 
sought for at the lowest planes of subsidence. 
Leaving out of the account the gold deposits of the soil, it is 
most frequently found in the regular veins, associated with the 
sulphurets of copper and iron. It is probable that the sulphu¬ 
rets should be regarded as the true matrix of gold, though not 
the only matrix. The veinstone is quartz, though in a hundred 
auriferous veins of quartz containing sulphurets, one or two are 
known in limestone, and occasionally also it has been found in 
serpentine. % 
The veins of auriferous quartz do not differ in structure from 
other veins; and they are subject to the same irregularities in 
width, and the same varieties as to richness in parts of the vein, 
both when examined in the line of bearing and in depth. 
