(From the Ceylon "Examiner.")
THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
In
answer to an application for the loan of Mr. Hopkin's pamphlet, Dr.
Kelaart has sent us the following letter which will be read with
interest at the present moment. He informs us that "large pieces of
gold" are reputed " to have been found in the Galle district." We shall
not indeed be surprised to hear of gold being found in considerable
quantities in various parts of Ceylon. Its formations are those of
auriferous districts. Only the other day a friend told us that in an
elephant shooting excursion he came upon quartz rocks which he felt
sure abounded in gold. It is a well known fact that the quartz
composing the Ural mountains contains gold in sufticient quantities to
pay for being pounded. A personal inspection by Mr. Hopkins of the
geological features of the Island would have been peculiarly valuable
just now—and we shall be glad to hear the result of Dr. Kelaart's
upland trip.
My Dear Sir,—As
I intend to examine Bradley's diggings when an opportunity offers, and
report upon its geological characters in connection with my friend Mr.
Hopkins' views on the gold mines of other countries, I therefore beg
to be excused sending you the pamphlet for the present, especially as
the publication of any portion of it at this moment without a
geological chart of the Ceylon diggings will only disappoint your
readers, or discourage the gold seekers in Ceylon. Let them go on as
they have begun and success may still attend their labours.
I
can, however, inform you that on Mr. Hopins being told that a few
grains of gold were found some years ago in Nuwara Eliya, he bade me
not be too sanguine as to finding the precious metal in any large
quantities in Ceylon; for although, gold is diffused throughout nearly
all the primitive rocks in the world, the characters of the Ceylon
primitive rocks are not such as hold out promises of very productive
fields of gold, but that there is every reason to believe that gold is
to be found in Ceylon in the same " small" proportion as in some of the
primitive rocks of Southern India. And, it is quite possible that
Bradley and his companions may fall into some localities where there
are " pockets" of gold, the accumulation of ages, the debris of worn
down granitic rocks.
It
is a pity that Government should have stopped (at this early period),
digging in other parts of the Island. I have every reason to believe
that hardworking men with a few practical lessons from Messrs. Bradley
& Co., will succeed in finding gold in the same small quantities as
at Ambepussa in various parts of the Island. The valleys of Dimbula,
and Saffragam, Kolmalie, &c, must be as auriferous as the banks of
the Maha Oya.
I
shall be agreeably surprised to hear that nuggets of gold are found in
this Island. The geological character of Ceylon (as known to me) do not
hold out any such rich golden prospects. However, it is only by
examination of the course of the Maha Oya and its rocky bed that the
geologist, or the practical mineralogist, will be able to speak
positively on such a valuable subject as this.
As
Mr. Hopkins was for some weeks in Galle, he would have gone up at my
suggestion to examine the geology of the mountainous districts of the
Island, put th.at be did not think it worth the expense pf travelling,
as the
