and cutting through all the incumbent strata, until it reaches the level of the rivers, although still above the trap, or granite, which forms the nucleus of the mountain. As this detritus is carried down, it becomes more and more disintegrated, until its further progress is arrested by the course of the rivers before mentioned, and is at last deposited in fine sand and gravel. The metallic threads are found, probably, not less than one-third of the way up the mountain; and if a shaft were sunk at the base of the mountain, it would have to go a depth before reaching the vein, corresponding with its present elevation above the original level. The metal, therefore, will only be found in these alluvial deposites, not beyond twenty or thirty feet in depth, formed in the course of time by the descending torrents. The nearer the river, and the farther from the seam, the finer will be the particles of gold; and the higher up the coarser, and less separated from the quartz in which it is detained. The most expensive part of mining, reducing the quartz to sand by stamping, the amalgation with quicksilver, and the separation of these by distillation, is thus saved, and the gold obtained with comparatively little expense. The stamping, or breaking up of the quartz, is performed by the natural agency of the water, and by the rocks falling upon each other in the course of their descent. Until these deposites shall be partially exhausted, although a much more precarious pursuit than regular mining, the latter will not be generally resorted to. There is no doubt, also, that others, with more perfect machines for washing and amalgamation, will follow those pioneers, and wash the same earth and sand over again, to as great profit as at the first operation. When I examined the lead mines of Missouri, I found that those who came after the regular smelters, took their scoria and leavings, and extracted, by means of the ash furnace, about twenty-five per cent., in addition to the fifty already obtained, but without the expense and uncertainty of mining, which rendered it a sort of gambling pursuit.