principal in which gold is known to exist, and where native gold-washers, locally called Jalgars, derive a livelihood from searching the auriferous sands.
Dharwar District.—In
a Paper entitled " The Auriferous Rocks of the Dambal Hills, Dharwar
District,"* Mr. R. B. Foote, F.G.S., of the Geological Survey of India,
has given an account of his researches when tracing the source from
whence the alluvial gold of the region has been derived, together with
a description of the system adopted in washing for gold in the streams
which'fiow through the auriferous tracts.
Mr.
Foote considers that the gneissic rocks of this area belong to three
distinct series, each characterized by certain lithological
peculiarities. He distinguishes them by the following local names:—1.
Dhoni, 2. Kap-patgode, 3. Soortoor:—
All
the streams said by the natives to be auriferous, rise within the
limits of the tract occupied by the Soortoor series, and the upper
course of the Soortoor Nullah. The richest of all lies entirely within
the area occupied by the pseudo-diorite and associated chloride schists.
" Quartz reefs occur in all the rock series above enumerated, but those lying within the limits of the Soortoor
series are the best defined.....The surface of the
principal reefs has been much broken up, doubtlessly by gold seekers.
Mr. Foote obtained a trace of gold in a fragment of quartz from the principal reef in the Kappatgode series, t
* "Records Geological Survey of India, 1874," vol. vii. p. 133.
+
Other authorities on this region are, as quoted by Mr. Foote
—Lieutenant Aytoun, "Trans. Bombay Asiatic Society," vol. xi. p. 8; Dr.
Carter, "Geological Papers on Western India;" Capt. Newbold, No. 4 of "
Papers on the Mineral Resources of Southern India."
