For indications, never pass an ironstone “blow” without examination.  Remember the pregnant Cornish saying with regard to mining and the current aphorism, “The iron hat covers the golden head.”  “Cousin Jack,” put it “Iron rides a good horse.”  The ironstone outcrop may cover a gold, silver, copper or tin lode.

If you are searching for gold, the presence of the royal metal should be apparent on trial with the pestle and mortar; if silver, either by sight in one of its various forms or by assay, blowpipe or otherwise; copper will reveal itself by its peculiar colour, green or blue carbonates, red oxides, or metallic copper.  It is an easy metal to prospect for, and its percentage is not difficult to determine approximately.  Tin is more difficult to identify, as it varies so greatly in appearance.

Having found your lode and ascertained its course, you want next to ascertain its value.  As a rule (and one which it will be well to remember) if you cannot find payable metal, particularly in gold “reef” prospecting, at or near the surface, it is not worth while to sink, unless, of course, you design to strike a shoot of metal which some one has prospected before you.  The idea is exploded that auriferous lodes necessarily improve in value with depth.  The fact is that the metal in any lode is not, as a rule, equally continuous in any direction, but occurs in shoots dipping at various angles in the length of the lode, in bunches or sometimes in horizontal layers.  Nothing but actual exploiting with pick, powder, and brains, particularly brains, will determine this point.

Where there are several parallel lodes and a rich shoot has been found in one and the length of the payable ore ascertained, the neighbouring lodes should be carefully prospected opposite to the rich spot, as often similar valuable deposits will thus be found.  Having ascertained that you have, say, a gold reef payable at surface and for a reasonable distance along its course, you next want to ascertain its underlie or dip, and how far the payable gold goes down.

As a general rule in many parts of Australia—­though by no means an inflexible rule—­a reef running east of north and west of south will underlie east; if west of north and east of south it will go down to the westward and so round the points of the compass till you come to east and west; when if the strike of the lodes in the neighbourhood has come round from north-east to east and west the underlie will be to the south; if the contrary was the case, to the north.  It is surprising how often this mode of occurrence will be found to obtain.  But I cannot too strongly caution the prospector not to trust to theory but to prove his lode and his metal by following it down on the underlie.  “Stick to your gold” is an excellent motto.  As a general thing it is only when the lode has been proved by an underlie shaft to water level and explored by driving on its course for a reasonable distance that one need begin to think of vertical shafts and the scientific laying out of the mine.