an, Jr., Professor of
General and Applied Chemistry in Yale College, New Haven, Ct.
_Manuscript_.

6. Report on the Montague Gold-Field, near Halifax, N.S., by the Same,
and on the Gold-Fields of the Waverley District, by the Same.
_Manuscript_.

7. Quarterly Report of the Chief Gold-Commissioner of the Province of
Nova Scotia. Made to the Provincial Secretary at Halifax, October 1,
1863.

8. The Royal Gazette, issued by the Chief Gold-Commissioner, Halifax,
January 20, 1863. Published by Authority.

* * * * *

In confirmation of these documents, we shall only need to add the
"testimony of the rocks" themselves, as shown in more than sixty
specimens of the gold-bearing quartz of these remarkable mines. Some of
these were brought to Boston by Professors Chace and Silliman, on their
return a few weeks since from exploring the rich leads of the
Provinces,--but by far the larger number were forwarded by some of the
resident superintendents of the mines, by the Cunard steamer Africa,
arriving in Boston, Sunday, January 10, 1864, to the care of Captain
Field, then residing at the Tremont House. We may add that the eight
finest of these specimens are now lying on the table before us, their
mottled sides thickly crusted with arsenical pyrites and streaked
through and through with veins and splashes of twenty-two-carat gold.
Incredulity, when raised to its highest pitch, might perhaps discredit
all written testimony, whether official or scientific; but we have as
yet seen no case so confirmed that the sight of these extraordinary
fragments did not _compel_ belief.

In drawing our narrative from the authorities above cited, we shall
prefer to follow as closely as possible the precise statements of the
documents themselves,--interspersed only with such remarks of our own as
may be necessary best to preserve an intelligible connection between the
different portions. The agreement between all the authorities is so
substantial, and in fact entire, that we shall experience none of the
usual difficulties in the reconciling of contradictions or the balancing
of conflicting theories or statements.

* * * * *

The gold-fields of Nova Scotia consist of some ten or twelve districts
of quite limited area in themselves, but lying scattered along almost
the whole southeastern coast of the Province. The whole of this coast,
from Cape Sable on the west to Cape Canso on the