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GOLD.
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113
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that
the former statement must only mean to imply that it is mined for in
superficial deposits. Dr. Emil Stoehr states* that traces of gold were
found in the copper ores of Singhbhum. A Mr. Emerson was specially
employed by the Singhbhum Copper Company to investigate the gold
resources of the country. He is said to have crushed a quantity of
quartz and to have found traces of gold in it; but his operations do
not appear to have been sufficiently successful to encourage him to
continue. In Chaibassa, I was shown a small nugget of gold in a quartz
matrix. It was said to have been obtained in the Kappargadi Ghat, near
Kalkapur, in Dhalbhum.
It is not within the scope of the present Paper to write a complete resume of
all that is recorded on the subject, but rather to give an account of
what has actually come under my own observation in those portions of
the districts which have been examined geologically.
During
the season of 1866-67, I fancied that I was able to connect the
occurrence of gold in the streams with the existence of certain
sub-metamorphic rocks (magnesian and mica schists, slates and
quartzites) which were then for the first time met with in Manbhum.
Being anxious to put this connection to as rigid a test as
circumstances would admit of, and wishing to define, if possible, the
exact boundaries within which gold certainly exists and may be
reasonably looked for, I with some difficulty persuaded two
gold-washers (man and wife) to accompany me during my examination of
the southern portion of the district of Manbhum. They remained with me
for upÂwards of three months, washing daily at such places as were
pointed out.
One of the most interesting results is, that the existÂence of gold in the metamorphic as well as the sub-
* Einige Bemerkungen uber den District Singhbhum in Bengalen : Vierteljahrschrift der naturforschenden Gesellschaft, Zurich, 5 th year, Part 4, 1880. I
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