, 1893-11-29

~ N4C IA 0A NAGAShASy ANSS
process OF washing; no m lchinery is necessary.
and plenty IF timber ab)unis for constructing
the 4luics4. The bed Of auriferous earth rests
mostly upon qstratum Of clay and is If vary
ing thickness. IRON 2 or 3 inches to 2 or )
feet, the average Thickness beInE IL inches.
The over-burthrn or superintendent crust
consists If clay Covered with a layer ofdecom-
posei We 5et4ble matter and is also Of varying
thickness. The average IN y be taken as 8
feet. The a,uiferous bed is composed OF
quartz ia yments, IN other minerals re~tingo
the clay, with fine sand above-thus the gold,
owing to its high specific gravity, is found in
greater quantities in the deeper aAd c,atrsec
POI tions Of the bel.
Ia British GUAM, it viii he noticed on con
sulting the geological map Of the Colony.
that the auriferous areas at present. being
worked are without exception along the line
OF the vast dykeS Of greonstone which inter.
scot the Country from west to south
east. Ia the Potaro aud Canaw uook districts
We find the greensboro IN contact with
quartz porphyry aud f~elstono, while at Omai
the bed rock appears 10 he granite. The
same remark applies to the Cuyuni and
Messaruai, except that on the higher CGynnl
there is 4 vast rea Of schist and gne,ss.
The coarsene,s Of tile { III varies. bat the
largaSj nugget hi therto obtained was hat found
by Mr.. Fraser Luokie in the Caalwarook IN
Nay 1891, and which weighed forly-t two
pounds and a half. This is small in compari-
son with Tie Welcome Stranger nugget
found at Do@lley IN Victoria, which gave
1858 ounces IF gold.
There has b,sn M h speculation az =
whether here are any deep loads in this colo
ny, but At present all the workings have beeH
shallow.
With regard to quartz .ninia@. great hopes
are held tn 1T the enl Of The present year will
see quartz crashing mtch nsry At work on
the upper Demerara River and perhaps on
the Barima sample crushing5 which have
been made by fhe Cola Com missioner have
promise yields of from ozs. u as much as
D ozs. TO the ton.
The effect # the gold in lustry on tha polu.
lation Of he colony has already been very
great, socially and morally, and'iiis contom-
plated that it will, IN time to come, No k II
still greater revolution.
The labourers Of the colony have been able.
to earn wages slCh rs they have never Def 10
earned, and at the end of their 3 or I months
~sojourn in the bush, have hal possessioiS Of
larger sums Of money than they ever before
conceived in their widest dreams Tbs
result Of this has been thar they have boen
able to plrohase Iixnries and secure comforts
which before were unknown t. them, and
TINS Is the first step to the appreciation by
them of the value of honest labour.
The number Of labourers engaged in the
gold diggings has Increased enormously with.
in the last three years
In 1889 there were 1897
" 1890 " I2.OO3
1891 1925
while up 70 March 9Th, 1892, there have
been registered 1869. 1t may safely be
conjectuled that there are nearly 5000 men
III the bush at one time, and this would give
an annual cost IN wages and food alone Of
something like 1878, 900. At this rate each
man would make nearly II ozS. of g1ld in the
year, while i'll Dutch Guiana the average
made per man appears to have been in 1890
about Is ozs. In 1891 British Guiana
employed nearly four times az many men as
Dutch Guiana ard made moro than four times
as much gold,
One reason perhaps why the gold industry
in British Gliala has out iistanced her neigh.
bours is probably that we have a larger
amount of labour Mt command. 1t is true
that the labourer Of CAYENNE is by his habits
and training better adapted to bush life than
are crroles, but the population of French
Guiana is small and scattered.
Another reason, and perhaps q more cogent
one. is that VIZ ale more fayoured peogTanhia