the inhabitants of this portion of Leinster were called Laighnigh-an-oir, or the "Lagenians of the Gold." as mentioned by O'Curry in his lectures (Lecture 1, p. 5.)

From the records in the Annals it would also appear that the ancient placer mines were principally situated in the Dublin and adjoining mountains. In these hills in recent times very little gold has been found. Now and then pieces of gold are picked up in Glenismole, or the upper portion of the Valley of the Dodder; and recently in Stephen's Green, Dublin, a small nugget was found in a load of gravel brought from the Dodder Valley. In some of the valleys eastward of Blessington, on the Liffey, are broken patches of ground that have an appearance like the sites of ancient placer mines; and farther south, workings of the ancient Irish

Croghan Kinshella. r, Iron mine; rr, Gold placer mines.

were discovered about thirty-five years ago, in the placer mines at the Hill of Lyra (anglice, junction or fork of two glens), townland of Knockmiller, nearly a mile S.W. of Wooden Bridge. In connection with these ancient works, under a depth of about 5 feet of meteoric drift, a black oak frame was found. It was 14 feet long by 10 or 12 feet wide, the shorter beams being morticed into the others about a foot from the ends, and on the outside of all the beams were carving of animals, some having men mounted on them. These consisted of "animals like mules with long bob-tails, others like goats or deer, and some of a nondescript character." The beams were cut up to make ground joists for the east wing of Wooden-Bridge Hotel.

The Lusceans, or the inhabitants of the Lusca or Earthcaves, must have been rather a primitive race, if we are to

judge from their habitations, that were rarely high enough for them to stand up in, and into most of which they had to creep through passages scarcely 2 feet high; yet in these caves most highly-wrought gold ornaments and weapons are not uncommon; while under some of the deep bog they also occur. Of the "finds" in bogs, those in the Bog of Cullen, at the junction of the counties of Tipperary and Limerick, are the most remarkable, as here were found not only innumerable golden articles, but also the various implements used by the goldsmith, such as crucibles, ladles, and the like, among the "corkers or roots of the trees of an ancient

forest.

As pointed out by O'Curry, this locality seems to have been the habitat for years of a race of goldsmiths, who carried on the manufacture from one generation to another in the wood there situated, long before the bog began to grow. O'Curry has tried to identify these goldsmiths with a race of artificers whose genealogy is given in the book of Lismore, who were direct descendants from Olioll Olum, king of Munster, and followed the trade from about A.D. 300 to A.D. 500; but the thickness of the bog over the ancient forest, among the remains of which the articles are found, would seem to suggest a far greater age.

The numerous and rich "finds" in the Bog of Cullen during the last two hundred years has made it proverbial in Munster and celebrated in song.

It would seem that after the conquest of Ireland by the English the existence of gold in the country was unknown or forgotten; but in recent years it was remarked that from time to time the natives of Wicklow brought up small quantities of gold to sell in Dublin. This did not create much inquiry till 1795, when a large nugget was offered for sale. The exact weight of this is uncertain, some say 21 ounces, others only 18; while some authorities mention two large nuggets. Whatever its weight, on enquiry it was found that it had been picked up by a girl driving cattle over the ford of Ballinasilloge, in the stream now called the Gold-Mines River. This runs eastward from Croghan Kinshella to join the Aughrim River, and eventually the Ovoca, at Wooden Bridge.

The find of this large nugget caused, a rush to the place, and for over six weeks from 600 to 700 people were working in the valley and neighbouring streams, till the Government, fortified by a special Act of Parliament, took possession, and established more systematic placer mining, under Messrs. Weaver, King, and Mills. The Government mining seems

to have been mostly carried on in the Gold Mine Valley, while at the same time adventurers were working in the neighbouring streams of Ballintemple, Clonwilliam, Knockmiller, Coolballintaggart, a stream on the other side of the hills running north from Croghan Kinshella, and, farther northward, at Mucklagh, Ballinagappoge, and Sheanmore, the last four being on tributaries of the Aughrim River.

The Government Works continued till May, 1798, when they were interrupted by the Rebellion, and were not resumed till 1801, after which time, for reasons fully stated by Weaver in the "Transactions of the London Geological Society," a level was driven into the east side of Croghan, while miles of trenches or open cast" were made round its summit, in search of the "mother rock" of the gold: all these works resulted in failure, for, although numerous veins of quartz were discovered, not a particle of gold was found in situ. After the failure of the trials the Government were advised to abandon the works. Since then placer mining has been carried on by companies and private individuals, but not successfully; Prof. W. W. Smyth, in his Report states "partly it may be presumed from the rarity of the precious metal, and partly from the difficulty experienced in all goldstreaming or gold-digging regions of obtaining from the workmen the full produce of their labours."

The Government placer mining, both before and after the Rebellion, is said to have been remunerative, and the quantity of gold returned was 944 ounces, of a total value at the time of £3675; the assay of 24 grains, by Weaver, gave pure gold 22 58, and silver 143; while a second, by the Assay Master of the London Mint, Mr. Alchorn, gave, for the same weight, 21 375 fine gold, 1875 of silver, and 0.375 of an alloy of copper and iron. The streamings carried on prior to those conducted by the Government are said to have been even more remunerative, and Sir R. Kane states that it has been calculated that over £10,000 were paid for the gold sold by private individuals.

The minerals found with the gold, as recorded by Weaver, are magnetic iron ore (sometimes in masses over half a hundredweight), titaniferous iron, specular red and brown iron-ores, pyrites, tin-ore and wolfram, manganese ore, garnet quartz, and lepidolite; to which Mr. Mallet has added platinum, galenite, chalcopyrite, molybdenite, sapphire, topaz, zircon, and spinella ("Journ. Geol. Soc. Dublin," vol. iv., p. 271). This observer seems to have come on an extraordinary prolific "run," as he records 3'5 lbs. of tin ore from 150 lbs. of sand; while all other observers have found this valuable ore

only in small quantities. It may be mentioned that in the old working, in the wood, tin ore was more frequently found than higher up, or to the south-west, where it is rarer. ore is also recorded for the working at Ballinagappoge, one of the tributaries of the Aughrim River.

Tin

Most of the gold is in "eye-sills," or small particles; in some places, however, "large gold" or grains occur, while here and there are nuggets, ranging from 215, the larger, to half an ounce; in one placer, a little N.E. of Ballinasilloge ford, many nuggets averaging from 3 to 5 ounces, one being 11 ounces, are said to have been lifted. In Ballintemple there was a great deal of gold, but it was nearly all in "eye-sills." The placer of Knockmiller is said to have been very productive, "large gold " and "eye-sills" occurring together, while in Coolballintaggart “large gold" was principally found.

In the "Elements of Geology," recently published by Prof. Le Conte, of the University of California, we learn that the California placers are below slopes on which there is always an outcup of an auriferous quartz vein. In Wicklow no auriferous quartz vein has been discovered, but in all cases the placers are below the slopes on which certain iron ore lodes crop out. On this account all the different observers seem to believe that there must be relations between these lodes and the gold in the placers; furthermore, fragments of these ores always occur in the sand associated with the gold. However, in none of the lodes above the placers has gold been found, although farther north-east, west and east of the Ovoca, it occurs in the gaussen at Ballymurtagh and Cronebane, and in the remarkable mineral Kilmacoite, or "silver-blende," at Connarry.

The major portion of the gold is abraded, and apparently has been drifted to its present site; but some nuggets and many of the eye-sills are frosted, as if they had grown in the drift, similar to some of the gold found in the "deep placers' of California; other pieces are attached to quartz, especially in the vicinity of the "Red Holes," a swampy patch at the mearing of Ballyvally and Ballinasilloge, as if somewhere in the latter townland there is a still undiscovered auriferous quartz vein. It must, however, be allowed that the chances in favour of the latter are small, as hundreds of tons of the quartz erratics were brought to Ballintemple, and crushed, without even a particle of gold being got to repay the trouble and expense.

In the Red Hole Mines, at present being worked by Mr. F. Acheson, we learn that the surface-accumulations in VOL. VIII. (N.S.)

the ravine consists of-above meteoric drift, under which is water-formed drift, and at the base of the latter in places is the auriferous or "black sand." The black sand is found in "runs" or lines, and these occur in channels or slight hollows that have been denuded or worn out along nearly parallel lines of dislocation, or master-joints, in the underlying Cambro-Silurian rocks. The miners know when they are coming to a "run," as the lamination of the "bottom rock" is "crumpled," as the twisting and breaking-up of the rock adjoining the fault or dislocation lines is locally called. In each section of the valley these breaks have general bearings, so that when the direction of one run is known all others are nearly parallel. One set of parallel breaks may, however, be crossed by another, and at the junction of the two systems the channels are deeper, and consequently in such spot more gold collects than elsewhere; so that on a map of a placer the rich spots occur somewhat like the corners of the squares on a chess-board, only more oblique to one another.

In the Red Holes Mine the surface of the bottom rock" in general is ground smooth, as if a rapid torrent had ran over it for years. In the overlying water-drift all the rock fragments are abraded, and rarely-even on the Gabbro, quartz, and other hard rocks-was a trace of ice-work detected; but a few ice-dressed fragments do occur in the higher meteoric drift. It would appear that when the ice was melting off the Wicklow hills great torrents were flowing down the different ravines, and when the ice had all melted and the water-supply was gone the torrents dried up, while subsequently the marginal cliffs of the ravines weathered into slopes, their detritus forming the meteoric drift now found above the water-drift.

All the modern mines in the neighbourhood of Croghan Kinshella are "shallow placers," the deepest being less than 30 feet, while no deep trials have been made. In nearly all other gold regions the precious metal has been worked not only in shallow but also in "deep placers," and, if we may reason from analogy, it appears probable that there are vast supplies of unknown auriferous sands under the deep river and estuary accumulations in the flats at Wooden Bridge, and other places in the valleys of the Ovoca and its tributaries.