340 " MINERAL DISCOVERIES. 1788 china. Specimens were sent to Sir Joseph Banks, and a stone 28s^pt taken out of a slate quany that I thought contained some metal* Tench mentions that " previous to leaving England^ I remember to have frequently heard it asserted that " the Diaooveiy discovery of mines was one of the secondary objects of the anticipated. Expedition.'^f There was no foundation for that asser- tion; and it probably owed its origin to nothing more than the vague association of ideas which for centuries past had connected colonising enterprises with mining ex> periments. The existence of metals and minerals in New Soith Wales was assumed simply because the territory was known to be extensive and fertile; but no indications of any such deposits had ever been found on its coasts. " The PropheUc. great probability of finding, in such an immense country, metals of every kind/' w^s urged by Sir George Young as a reason for its colonisation. But as neither a geologist nor a mineralogist was appointed when the Expedition was organised, it may be inferred that Lord Sydney did not attach any value to the probability of such discoveries being made. That the idea of finding valuable ores of some kind was prevalent in the settlement may be seen in Phillip's reference to the subject. Rumors were circulated Hininff from time to time about mysterious mines which were said ^Ir* to exist in its neighborhood ; but he wisely set his face against any attempt to divert the people from their proper
- In the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society for 1790, voL
xvi, p. 667, there is a learned dissertation by Josiah Wedgwood—" on the analysis of a mineral substance from New South Wales ;" and in a foot- note it IS mentioned that "along with the mineral here analysed, Mr. Wedgwood was presented by Sir Joseph Banks with some clay, which Mr. Wedgwood found to be an excellent material for pottery, adding that it might certainly become the basis of a valuable manufacture for our infant colony there. " Mr. Wedgwood's analysis of the mineral substance referred to in Phillip's despatch of 6 November, post, p. 356, showed that it was " a mixture of fine white sand, a soft white earth, some colourless micaceous particles, and a few black ones, resembling black mica or blacklead ;^* and the result of his experiments was that, in his opinion, ** this substance is a pure species of plumbago or blacklead, not taken notice of by any writer." The cuiy analysed by Mr. Wedgwood was made into a medallion ; ante, p. 244. t Narrative, p. 121. Digitized by Google
