29 
Northward from the tunnel, on each side of the spur along which the reef 
runs, the surface has been worked for gold, the alluvial on the eastern side, 
in Victoria Gully, being particularly rich. The material in this gully is now 
being cyanided. 
Granite Hill. 
Granite Hill is a conspicuous knoll about 4 miles south-west of Talbot. 
It is composed of a lenticular dyke of syenite, medium-grained in texture, 
and varying from pink to grey in colour. It outcrops over a length of about 
half a mile, and in the central portion is about 180 feet in width. It withstands 
weathering better than the surrounding Ordovician slates and sandstones 
(which it is intrusive into and has slightly metamorphosed along the contact), 
and decomposes into a richer and more friable soil. The fresh rock would 
form a handsome and probably durable monumental stone. At the Talbot 
Leader office is a small piece which has been dressed and polished. It evidently 
had been gathered from the surface, and, though of good colour and polish, 
a slight decomposition of the felspars detracts somewhat from its appearance. 
I was informed that about 25 years ago a cube of about 4 cwt. was obtained 
from below the surface of the central portion of the hill and sent to a London 
Exhibition, and that later it was exhibited in Melbourne and attracted atten¬ 
tion. The most interesting point about the mass is that at the southern end 
of it alluvial gold in nuggety form has been found in a gully on the western 
side and traced to the contact of the slates and dyke. The suggestion is that 
the gold has been derived from the syenite or from quartz veins in association 
with it. Several holes have been sunk in the slates and sandstones near the 
contact without discovering auriferous quartz, but there is no sign that the 
dyke has been tested. Mr. Baragwanath informs me that there are two 
quartz porphyry dykes .parallel to and near this dyke. As they were not 
known to the members of the Prospecting Association who accompanied me 
they were not searched for. 
In driving through the district, my attention was drawn to many other 
points of interest, to which, as the Talbot belt of auriferous country is some 
4 miles wide by 10 miles long, I was able in the short time at my disposal to 
give only a passing glance. Sufficient, however, was seen during the visit to 
convince me that it is owing to a lamentable lack of enterprise on the part of 
the inhabitants that Talbot now comes under the heading of a neglected gold¬ 
field. The surrounding country has been remarkably rich in alluvial gold, 
the source of- which is the numerous quartz reefs in the belt of country running 
through the township; and although in the case of some of the existing leads 
which may have derived their contents from the denudation of still older 
leads, the position of the source of the gold cannot be determined. There are 
many untried places in the district, above the level of the leads, where it seems 
certain that the matrix of the alluvial gold is the reef or dyke at the head of 
the gully, and it is there that prospecting should be undertaken. Generally 
where this has been done a shoot of gold has been discovered, as in the case 
of the reefs herein referred to. Below the surface shoot others may be 
expected to recur, but, as far as I can learn, in no instance has a second shoot 
been searched for. The deepest shaft, with the exception of the Churchill, 
near Amherst, is the Southern Cross (200 feet). 
The population of Talbot is not now a mining one, and, left to itself, is not 
likely to become one. A few members of the Prospecting Association recognise 
this, and for some time have been endeavouring to attract attention to the 
district. The general desire seems to be to re-work the Tunnel reef. If this 
be decided on, to be successful it will be necessary to attack the reef at a 
depth below the tunnel-level. The shoot here has a northerly pitch, and from 
