MISCELLANIES. 



637 



1 remained here fivs days, dur- 

 ing which 1 was occupied in view- 

 ing and examining various parts of 

 the works, of which I shall here 

 attempt to give a general descrip- 

 tion. 



This rich river, formed by the 

 junction of a number of streams, 

 which will be hereafter noted, is 

 as wide as the Thames at Windsor, 

 and in general from three to nine 

 feet deep. The part now in work- 

 ing is a curve or elbow, from 

 which the current is diverted into 

 a canal cut across the tongue of 

 land round which it winds, the ri- 

 ver being stopped just below the 

 head of the canal by an embank- 

 ment formed of several thousand 

 bags of sand. This is a work of 

 considerable magnitude, and re- 

 quires the co-operation of all the 

 negroes to complete it; for, the ri- 

 ver being wide and not very shal- 

 low, and also occasionally subject 

 to overflows, they have to make 

 the embankment so strong as to 

 resist the pressure of the water, 

 admitting it to rise four or five 

 feet. 



The deeper parts of the channel 

 of the river are laid dry by means 

 of large caissons or chain-pumps, 

 worked by a water-wheel. 1 he 

 mud is then carried off, and the 

 cascalhao is dug up and removed 

 to a convenient place for washing. 

 This labour was, until lately, per- 

 formed by the negroes, who car- 

 ried the cascalhao in gamellas on 

 their heads, but Mr. Camara has 

 formed two inclined planes about 

 one hundred yards in length, along 

 which carts are drawn by a large 

 water-wheel, divided into two 

 parts, the ladles or buckets of 

 which are so constructed, that the 



rotatory motion may be altered by 

 changinj; the current of water from 

 one side to the other : this wheel 

 by means of a rope made of un- 

 tanned hides, works two carts, one 

 ofwhich descends empty on one in- 

 clined plane, while the other, load- 

 ed with cascalhao, is drawn to the 

 top of the other, where it falls into 

 a cradle, empties itself, and de- 

 scends in its turn. At a work 

 called Canjeca, formerly of great 

 importance, about a mile up the 

 river on the opposite side, there are 

 three cylindrical engines for draw- 

 ing the cascalhao, like those used 

 in the mining country of Derby- 

 shire, and also rail-ways over some 

 uneven ground. This was the first 

 andonly machinery of consequence 

 which 1 saw in the diamond dis- 

 trict, and there appear many ob- 

 stacles to the general introduction 

 of it. Timber, when wanted of 

 large size, has to be fetched a dis- 

 tance of one hundred miles at a 

 very heavy expen&e ; there are few 

 persons competent to the construc- 

 tion of machines, and the work- 

 men dislike to make them, fear- 

 ing that this is only part of a ge- 

 neral plan for superseding manual 

 labour. 



The stratum of cascalhao con- 

 sists of the same materials with that 

 in the gold district. On many 

 parts, by the edge of the river, are 

 large conglomerate masses of 

 rounded pebbles cemented by ox- 

 ide of iron, which sometimes enve- 

 lop gold and diamonds. They cal- 

 culate on getting as much cascal- 

 hao in the dry season as will oc- 

 cupy all their hands during the 

 months which are more subject 

 to rain. When carried from the 

 bed of the river whence it is dujj. 



It 



