HYDRAULIC GOLD-WASHINGS. 229 



lake, 300 feet below me. The hose hangs down 

 this cliff of shingle, and following its course by 

 a zigzag path, I reach a plateau of rock, from 

 which the shingle has already been washed. A 

 man stands at the end of each hose, that has 

 for its head a brass nozzle. With the force of 

 cannon-shot water issues, in a large jet, from 

 this tube ; and propelled against the shingle, 

 guided by the men, washes it away, as easily as 

 we could broom a molehill from off the grass. 



The stream of water, bearing with it the ma- 

 terials washed from out the cliff, runs through 

 wooden troughs called 'flumes,' floored with 

 granite; these flumes extend six miles. Men 

 are stationed at regular distances to fork out 

 the heavy stones. Throughout its entire length 

 transverse strips of wood dam back a tiny pond 

 of mercury ; these are called riffles gold-traps, 

 in other words that seize on the fine-dust gold 

 distributed throughout the shingle. The ' flumes' 

 are cleaned about once a month, and the gold 

 extracted from the mercury. Masses of wood 

 occur, in eveiy stage of change, from that of 

 pure silica to soft asbestiform material, and pure 

 carbon. 



I am strongly disposed to think this immense 

 hollow must have been the rocky shore of an 



