future awaits the Yilgarn field, which has been deferred owing to the superior attractions of the goldfields further east having diverted the fertilising stream of capital for the time being.
COOLGARDIE,
the capital of the auriferous regions of Western Australia and the scene of Bayley's wonderful discovery, lies 116 miles east of the Cross. Although the desert country runs out a long way beyond Yilgarn, timber is plentiful around Coolgardie, and as far beyond it to the eastward as the country has been explored. The city of Coolgardie itself is picturesquely situated on a tableland which culminates at Mount Burges, in a whale-backed mountain, having an altitude of over 2,000 feet. In the early days of Coolgardie the alluvial diggings were very rich, while Bayley's Reward mine eclipsed all previous records for the marvellous wealth of its ore. The alluvial is still being worked in patches, but Bayley's itself is under a cloud, the result, it is asserted, of circumstances in which the actual worth of the mine itself plays a very inconsiderable part. Certainly there must be some life left in the property yet, seeing that the last crushing yielded 708 ozs. from a little over 4 cwt. of stone. Twelve miles to the south of Coolgardie is the scene of the Londonderry find, at once one of the most sensational and at the same time disappointing discoveries known in the annals of gold mining. The Wealth of Nations was a mine of similar character, and is situated forty-five miles north-west of Coolgardie. Both these mines owed their fame to enormously rich patches of ore which have now been exhausted. The mines are being worked still, and both are turning out excellent properties of average quality; but the Londonderry can never be expected to pay dividends on its present over-inflated capital; while the Wealth of Nations, which is capitalised in better proportion to its value, is hampered by the total absence of water in its neighbourhood. Other rich mines in the Coolgardie field are Burbanks, Burbank's Grand Junction, The Australasia, Lady Loch, King Solomon, Golden Dyke Junction, New Victoria South, Vale of Coolgardie, McPherson's Flagstaff, Gleeson's Queensland Development, Herbert, New Victoria Consols, West Australian Proprietary, Cement, Ophir, Premier, Mexico, Great Czar, and Elvin—all of which are now crushing as often as the limited supplies of water will allow, and are returning very satisfactory results. In addition to these wealthy mines, in themselves sufficient to keep Coolgardie well to the front, there are many very large lodes of low-grade matrix, the average yield of which is from 15 dwts. to 1 oz. to the ton. Among these, the most prominent are the Clyde, United Gold Reefs, Rosehill, Mount Rowe, Sydenham, United Britons, Armidale, Britons South, De Beers, Mount Morgan, Easter Gift, Great Coolgardie, Lady Mary, Lady Hampton Line, Golden Bar, Empress of Coolgardie, Lady Charlotte, Mount Burges, Westralia, First Find, Bendigo-Coolgardie, and about fifty others, which contain enough gold and have sufficient ore to make the place a second Johannesburg. The reefs for the most part are very much broken and faulted, and contain rich chutes and patches at the breaks or junctions with the lower grade transversal lodes, which belong to the low-grade order, and will in the future prove to be the mainstay of Coolgardie. The present average yield of Coolgardie ore is 1 oz. 19.6 dwts. to the ton; but the writer is of opinion that this will yet be reduced to about the ounce average, at which the mines can be made to pay well; while the immense masses of ore of this quality, in some cases ranging as high as 60 feet thick, will ensure a very large output of gold. The extraordinarily rich lodes now being worked at Kalgoorlie have for the time led to some neglect of Coolgardie; but from a thorough knowledge of the field, the writer has not the smallest apprehension as to the wealth and permanence of this portion of the great auriferous belt. Coolgardie itself is the largest inland town of Western Australia, having a population within the municipal boundaries of 12,000, which the suburbs increase to about 20,000. The outside centres are Londonderry, Gibraltar, Bullabulling, Dunnsville, Kurtanalling, Kintore, Forty-Five Mile, and Siberia, all of which possess mines of considerable value. Throughout the Coolgardie field the rocks and lodes are rich in rare mineralogical combinations and simple specimens, and a little investigation shows the country to contain almost every known mineral.
Lignite and carbonaceous fossiliferous shales have recently been discovered; the much-talked of "telluride" has been found in small quantities about two miles from the town; silver, lead, copper, and graphite are frequently encountered; while the inferior sorts of precious stones, such as agate, jasper, chalcedony, garnet, chrysoprase, and opal are met with; the last named being frequently found in veins permeating solid quartz. Some of these minerals carry gold, and the author has received specimens of agate, jasper, and chrysoprase carrying visible gold. Asbestos, mica, actinolite, and sheelite are also among the products of this remarkable district, which constitutes a perfect natural museum and a veritable happy hunting-ground for the mineralogist and the collector.
EAST COOLGARDIE
is at once the smallest and richest of the southern goldfields. It is another Peak Hill on a vastly larger scale, and the mention of its great mines, such as the Great Boulder, Brown Hill, Lake View, Ivanhoe, Great Boulder Perseverance, Block Forty Five, and a host of others, is sufficient to conjure up a vision which renders a treatise quite unnecessary. To do the field of East Coolgardie even scanty justice a volume would have to be written, but the place is happily so well known that such an effort would be almost unnecessary, though it could in the hands of a capable scientist be made profoundly interesting. Let it suffice to say that there exists an area of about two squares in the centre of the East Coolgardie field, which is probably the wealthiest area of ground on the earth's surface. Three gigantic main lodes, enormously rich in gold, traverse this area from south to north, upon which are situated the mines which have made the name of Kalgoorlie famous. North of the Crœsus and south of the Hannan's Star the prospects are not so promising; but within this charmed circle the wealth of the lodes is marvellous and approaching the fabulous. Of late much unnecessary excitement has been created over the discovery of calaverite, one of the forms of telluride of gold. This was originally found by Mr. A. G. Holroyd, a well-known local mineralogist, in the lode at Block Forty-Five. Mr. Holroyd announced the discovery to the world without making any undue fuss about the matter. He recognised its importance from a scientific point of view, but not being a man of booming proclivities allowed the affair to rest at that. Some months afterwards Mr. Maryanski arrived in Kalgoorlie, and discovered the same mineral in another mine. This was made the occasion of a great outcry, arising mainly out of Mr. Maryanski's conclusions in reference to the find. In that gentleman's own words, he declares "that it settles forever the following questions":
"1. It removes forever the doubt that existed all over the
