from the hillside. For part of its course it follows the strike of the 
rocks, and is 25 feet deep at the face. The rock in which the turquoise 
is found is the usual black slate, which weathers grey near the surface. 
Turquoise in veins up to f-in. thick is found here, but most of it is of a 
pale-green colour, and unmarketable. In a smaller cutting near the shaft, 
stone of good quality is reported as having been found. A great deal 
of quartz occurs. The black slate, which shows the effects of strains, &c\, 
from its crushed, creased, and faulted condition, is but little altered in the 
deepest portion of the workings. The “ faces ” of the quartz in the veins 
are commonly covered with thin films of turquoise of greenish colour. 
The quartz in the veins attains to .as much as a foot in thickness. 
No. 8 locality was described to me, but was not visited, as only a 
small opening has been made. 
Summary. 
First, as to the country rock: It is obvious from the accompanying 
plan that the sites of Nos. 1 to 6 workings are on the same belt of slate, 
the strike of which is about X. 37 deg. W. Nos. 6, 7, and 8 are 
on' a parallel belt, and quite possibly the same zone which has been 
folded up again to the surface along the strike of these latter sites. In 
searching for turquoise, a knowledge of this fact-, and that by following 
the strikes from a known locality others may be discovered, should be of 
service. This was pointed out to the first prospectors three years ago, 
and the workings amply justify the opinion then formed. 
Black carbonaceous or graphitic slate is the rock in which the turquoise 
forms veins at all the sites, and the constituents of the turquoise—phos¬ 
phorous, alumina, and copper—are doubtless all present in the slate, 
and halve evidently aggregated to form the mineral in the veins at a 
very recent date. The quartz .veins have formed from siliceous solutions, 
since the rocks were bent and folded over, and the turquoise veins are of 
still later date, for they cut through the quartz veins where both occur 
together. In what form the phosphate originally exists in these beds is 
uncertain. Whether disseminated through the black slate or isolated in 
the thin lenticular bodies so common in some of the seams, analysis must 
■determine, but the decomposition of iron pyrites appears to be the pre¬ 
liminary step by which the turquoise product is eventually produced. 
The freed sulphuric acid appears to react on the phosphatic and 
aluminous matter present, and the green or blue colour is produced by 
traces of copper, doubtless furnished by the iron pyrites. 
Turquoise of pale-green weathered aspect occurs right at the surface 
in each locality. Further down, the colour of the stone improves, and 
the quality is better. This continues down to 30 or 40 feet from the 
surface, but below this the rock is unaltered, and the pyrites unoxidized, 
and here the veins- of turquoise do not 'appear to penetrate, for below 
there is an absence of this mineral. In any case, where deep shafts have 
been sunk or tunnels much below the surface have been put in, no turquoise 
has been discovered, although the rock nearer the surface is thickly veined. 
The only conclusion to be arrived at from the work so far done is that 
the turquoise is produced in certain bands of slate which contain the 
requisite elements, by means of the decomposition of iron pyrites, and 
subsequent reactions induced thereby, and that, as a consequence, the 
turquoise does not exist much below where atmospheric influences have 
