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From among the outer mountains of the north reports of rich deposits come at times, and also from the great interior desert; so ancient that it has dried to an appalling desolation. In the broken country further south, after passing the great interior jungled plains are other regions whence come the stories of mineral wealth, and further south the Rand, with all its celebrated mines, commands attention; surely Africa presents a place for mining possibilities, and one should watch for opportunities.

With such reputable backing as the bankers have given, with such shrewd, successful men operating the proposition, with such wonderful stories as are now circulated, the stock of the mining company this group of men represent begins to attract attention. The bankers buy some shares, many of their clients buy, people in the open market buy, the stock goes up, the greatest bonanza ever known has come out of the west, there is a scramble for shares, an active market for a time; the papers contain reports and interviews, all paid for, of course.

After this in the later ages of the Mesozoic came the beginning of the vast plain and table land formations of America and Asia, and its termination in a great series of terrestrial convulsions, and the 'breaking through of all the great ranges of the Andes and Rocky mountains forming the table lands of America, the mountains of Europe and probably of southwestern Asia, with Africa remaining tranquil and undisturbed.

The technical papers are managed by men skilled in the technicalities of mining, and will have the best authorities on mining among their contributors; and any information which may be had from them will be worthy of careful thought and consideration. They will treat, however, only of technical subjects in their relations to mining; in regard to investment or speculative values they will have very little information. Such points the investor must decide for himself.

The promoters were eager for very great profits, if the mine had paid, as they anticipated from the very start, all would have been well; but the financial development of the proposition not being on a secure foundation, nothing was provided for contingencies, and troubles appearing, the burden of the capitalization was too great. This is the history of most mining enterprises, though some succeed, even at this great disadvantage, and if better provision were made, the number of successes would be in favorable comparison.

It seems reasonable that a stock in an ordinary mine paying a net return of only five per cent, is selling too high, but that when the rate is between ten per cent, and twenty per cent, the proposition is more attractive, and more nearly on a normal basis of compensation for the risk involved.

Then the final matter of investigation, the questions as to whether the people offering the property, or rather who are asking for the use of money, are reliable and have the ability to obtain results. There is many a good mine gone wrong because the management was incapable or dishonest, and the investor should here exercise great care in his investigations.

It is usual that stocks in old established mines sell above their worth because the claim for almost unlimited mineral deposits is more easily maintained in the case of a large producer than for a property that has yet to make its reputation; though it may be that the large producer is rapidly approaching the time when, its mineral deposits becoming exhausted, it will be of no further value.

Scheme of the lottery as usually presented by the Spanish-American lotteries. All others have been suppressed in America.

Usually 1,000,000 tickets of $1 each are authorized, although there is little mention of the number of tickets. The prizes are put forward with great prominence. Based on one million tickets a tabulation of the chances would give results as follows:

Those ore deposits called placers in which the material sought is found mingled with sand, gravel or other products of erosion are usually productive of the precious metals, gold, platinum, and to its allied minerals and also precious stones, and certain of the rare elements used in the arts.

It takes money to work a mine, it takes money for the equipment; but those who manage a mine, and yet are not accustomed to the business think that no impediment stands against the easy money they expect to win. Take out the ore and remit the proceeds, write the directors; this is the sense of the meeting, and the puzzled miner looks at his instructions and sends some practical suggestions as to the best methods for opening up the mine, and the machinery which will probably be required.

If honest work were done the different transactions would be something like the following.

Each class of mines requires different treatment.

In place of this chapter a volume could be written, and then the subject would not be exhausted. The object of the present work is not a scientific treatise, or even a guide for engineers. Such ambitions are far beyond our objects which are simply to give the facts which will bear on the advisability of accepting a mining proposition, and some little information touching on the relation of mining to geology will be desirable. There are many forms of ore deposits, and of these large deposits moderately rich are more favorable than small but immensely rich formations.

Luxurious in the metropolis lives a man with everything his whim or fancy can desire, if only the purchasing power of money can obtain it. Riches are his, gained from the mines, and fair fortune smiles upon his happy life. On the western plains is a human skull, bleached, and white in the sun; ghastly in the pale light of the moon; a toad has made his refuge in it secure in the silence of the desert, and it is nothing; the man lost his all, and his life was a sacrifice to fortune, he sought for mines and had no reward. These are the extremes, the prize to one, the penalty to the other.