they
were actually washing were within the area occupied by rocks of Talchir
(Permio-triassic) age; but whether the gold was proximately derived
from them, or had been brought down by the river, as is ., possible,
from the metamorphic rocks a short distance higher up, I am unable to
say.
There is, of course, no prima facie improbability
in the Talchir rocks containing gold. On the contrary, the boulder-bed,
including as it does such a large proportion of materials directly
derived from the metamorphic rocks, might naturally be expected to
contain gold. In this connection it may be mentioned that in
Australia, a conglomerate bed of carboniferous age has been found to
be auriferous,* and the same has been recorded in Nova Scotia, j
As
to the methods employed by, and the earnings of, the gold-washers, the
remarks about to be made on the gold of Singbhum apply equally to
Sambalpur, and need not be anticipated here.
It
may be added that to the north-west of Sambalpur there are a number of
parallel quartzite ridges which, in places, have much the appearance of
veins; they are, I think, worthy the attention of the prospector for
gold.
Fine quartz reefs also occur in many parts of the district.
Orissa.—In
the province of Orissa gold is reported to occur in the sands of the
river Brahmani, in the Pal Lahara, where it is said to be worked to a
considerable extent.^
* Vide "Geol. Mag.,-' 1S77, P- ^S6.
+ "Jour. Geol. Soc," vol. xxxvi. p. 313.
J "Mem. Geol. Survey of India," vol. i. p. 88.
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