ief prepares a quarterly exhibit, which he issues
on a broad sheet in a so-called "Royal Gazette." The last of these
documents issued was published by authority at Halifax, Wednesday,
January 20th, 1864, and a copy thereof, ornamented at the head with the
familiar lion and unicorn, is now lying with several of its predecessors
on the table before us. If skeptics desire any better authority than
this for the average yield of these mines, they must seek it elsewhere
for themselves. By the majority of persons capable of judging of the
value and weight of testimony, we presume it will be regarded as amply
sufficient.

After this explanation of the official character of these returns, a
transcript of the figures given in the last exhibit as the average yield
of gold per ton of quartz crushed will be all we think necessary in
answer to the inquiry we have proposed. We give them just as they stand
in the returns for December, 1863, only premising that the relative
yield of the several mines is found to vary very considerably from month
to month, being at one time higher, and at other times again somewhat
lower, and this from natural causes which have already been explained,
while the total amounts, when taken together, exhibit a steady increase
in the general yield of the whole. The figures stand as follows:--

DECEMBER, 1863.

_District._ _Yield of Gold_
_per Ton of Quartz._

Stormont (Isaac's Harbor) 2 oz. 10 dwt. 0 gr.
Wine Harbor 10 " 6 "
Sherbrooke 1 " 7 " 0 "
Tangier 14 " 12 "
Montague 5 " 9 " 8 "
Waverley 9 " 11 "
Oldham 15 " 12 "
Renfrew 1 " 2 " 0 "
Ovens[P] 18 " 9 "

The difference in yield between the districts is here very considerable,
as it happens,--yet in the month of October the average yield at Oldham
was 1 oz. 16 dwt, 20 gr., and at Renfrew 2 oz.; while for November it
was at Stormont 3 oz. 2 dwt. 12 gr., at Tangier 1 oz. 10 dwt, at
Waverley I oz. 3 dwt. 12 gr., and at Oldham 1 oz. 8 dwt. The _maximum_
yield per ton was 50 oz. at Wine Harbor, 12 oz. at Sherbrooke, 11 oz. 12
dwt. at Oldham, and 5 oz. 15 dwt. at Stormont, for the same period.

"The average yield," says Professor Chace, "per ton of quartz, of the
gold-