At no former period of the world’s history has gold been so eagerly sought for over such extensive areas in all parts of the globe; never have larger quantities of the precious metal been added to the accumulated hoards of ages. No doubt this vast influx of wealth has in many cases been productive of evil consequences; but its beneficial influence upon the progress and happiness of mankind far outweighs the injury it may too frequently have caused by rousing the worst passions of our nature. An astonishing impetus has already been given to commerce and industry; competence and wealth have been diffused over many lands; deserts have been transformed into growing empires; and a vast continent, long despised as the convict’s prison, has been raised in the social scale to a height almost commensurate with its geographical importance. The mineral formations in which gold originally occurs are the crystalline primitive rocks, the compact transition rocks, and the trachytic and trap rocks, which, by their disintegration have, in the course of ages, enriched large alluvial tracts with particles of the precious metal. Torrents and rivers washed them down from the heights, along with the worthless rubbish of their original matrix, and finally deposited them in the gulleys and ravines of the lower grounds. Hence the alluvial territories have always been the chief sources of auriferous wealth, and this circumstance explains how countries which at one time abounded in gold have long since ceased to be of importance. For the comparative ease with which the metal could generally be obtained by digging and washing, and the greed which stimulated the researches of thousands, could not fail to exhaust even the richest placers. No one now dreams of searching for gold in the sands of the Pactolus or of the Golden Tagus; no modern Argonaut sails to Colchis in quest of the golden fleece; the fields of Bohemia are no longer ransacked by gold-seekers; and a like fate probably awaits many of our modern Eldorados. A marked difference between the gold deposits of Australia and California deserves to be noticed. The gold of California is found in the midst of, or contiguous to, the existing great mountain ranges, amidst regions of peaked, jagged, irregular crests, and upheaved and distorted strata, the undoubted effects of internal convulsions. It has not, however, selected as its resting-place the smooth levels and hanging slopes of the contiguous hills. The metal, ground finer and finer as it is carried forward by the torrents that year after year tear up the river-beds, finally settles in the form of fine flakes or dust along the banks and at the bottoms of the great streams of the country. Hence the Californian diggers generally find the drifts of the precious metal in the strata immediately under the surface, either associated with the subsoil, or in the holes or ‘pockets’ of water-worn rocks.