Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/487

 ARTICLES OF EXPORTATION. 471 ly worth mining for, in the great volcanic range extending from Java to Timur-Laut. Of parti- cular islands, Borneo affords by far the most abun- dant supply. Next to it comes Sumatra, and in suc- cession the peninsula J Celebes, and Lusong, an enu- meration which would seem to indicate that even the size and extent of the countries in which it is found have some relation to its distribution. In this estimate of the geographical distribution of gold, it ought not to be forgot that we may possi- bly be misled by too limited an experience, and that the countries in which the industry of man has been, perhaps by accident, directed to its ex- traction, may possibly be mistaken for those in which nature has produced it in greatest abundance. In one great island especially, the magnificent one of New Guinea, it is known to exist, and there is room to imagine, in great abundance. The gold ol the Indian Islands, in regard to geognostic situation, is found, as in other parts of the world, in veins and mineral beds, as well as in alluvial deposites. In the first situation it exists in granite, gneiss, mica-slate, and clay-slate ; and in the second, in ferruginous clay and sand. The ore is what modern mineralogists term gold-yellow gold, * and always contains a considerable quanti- Mincraloj^y."
 * Professor Jameson's able and laborious " System of