The soil abounds with rocks of gneiss and quartz,
some of the latter rose-color, some pure white. The gold has
hitherto been found in the plains only. These plains extend over
some thirty miles of country, divided into numerous patches by
intervening jungles.
The surface soil is of a peaty nature, perfectly black, soapy
when wet, and as light as soot when dry; worthless for
cultivation. This top soil is about eighteen inches thick, and
appears to have been the remains of vegetable matter washed down
from the surrounding hills and forests.
This swampy black soil rests upon a thin stratum of brownish
clay, not more than a few inches thick, which, forming a second
layer, rests in its turn upon a snow white rounded quartz gravel
intermixed with white pipe-clay.
This contains gold, every shovelful of earth producing, when
washed, one or more specks of the precious metal.
The stratum of rounded quartz is about two feet thick, and is
succeeded by pipe-clay, intermixed with quartz gravel, to a depth
of eighteen feet. Here another stratum of quartz gravel is met
with, perfectly water-worn and rounded to the size of a
twelve-pound shot.
In this stratum the gold was of increased size, and some pieces
were discovered as large as small grains of rice; but no greater
depth was attained at the time Of writing than to this stratum,
viz.
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