Having
pointed out to the intending emigrant the localities and productiveness
of the New South Wales gold fields, we will now tell him
HOW TO LOOK FOR GOLD.
The
first step toward this is to inform him under what conditions it is
found in the principal gold countries of the Northern Hemisphere, to
which the precious metals have, for the most part, been heretofore
confined.
In
the mines of Russian Siberia, gold is found mixed with sand and coarse
gravel; the sand being evidently a disintegration of quartz. Pebbles
of the latter substance, when broken up, yield it in considerable
quantities, and in lumps, answering to the "nuggets" of the Australian
mines. The hundredweight nugget, of which we have spoken, was an
immense quartz baulder of this description, and this is the most common
form of gold nuggets in Australia.
It
is also found in granites, schists, and other igneous rocks. This is
experienced in Australia. It is plentiful in Russia where greenstone,
porphyry, and serpentine, are found in the older limestones. In this
case, it is often associated with platinum and chromate of iron. The
gold-bearing detritus is not so universal as in Australia, but is found
at intervals.
