154 THE PROSPECTOR'S HANDBOOK. 



ARROBA (Spanish) 25 Ibs. 



ARSENIDE Compound of a metal with arsenic. 



ASBESTOS The usual mineral of this name is fibrous and of a dull 



greenish colour, with pearly lustre. 

 ASSAY Process for determining the amount of pure metal in an ore 



or alloy. 



ATTAL (Cornwall) The waste of a mine. 

 AURIFEROUS Gold-bearing. 

 AXE STONE- A species of jade. It is a silicate of magnesia and 



alumina. 



B. 



BACK OF A LODE That part between the roof of the level and the 



smface. 



BACK SHIFT Afternoon shift of miners. 

 BAHAR (Malay) Weight of 4 cwt. 

 BANK CLAIM A mining claim on the bank of a stream. 

 BANKET A gold-bearing conglomerate in which are white quartz 



pebbles (S. Africa). 

 BAR A course of rock, of a different nature to the vein stone, which 



runs across a lode. A hard ridge of rock crossing a stream is 



called a bar in Australia, and on the upper side of which gold is 



Jikely to be deposited. 



BARROWS Heaps of waste stuff raised from the mine. 

 BASALT (See Index). 

 BASSET Outcrop of a lode or stratum. 

 BATEA A small, slightly conical dish, generally about 20 inches in 



diameter and 2\ inches deep, in which gold-bearing soil is washed. 

 BATT Name given to a highly bituminous shale found in the Coal 



measures. 



BATTERY In mining, a stamping milL 

 BEATAWAY A process of working hard ground by means of wedges 



and sledge hammers. 

 BED Same as stratum or layer. 

 BEDE A kind of pickaxe. 

 BED ROCK The rock underlying an alluvial deposit, and on which 



at a gold diggings the most payable " dirt" usually rests. 

 BELLY A swelling mass of ore in a lode. 

 BENCH (Australia) A terrace on the side of a river. Auriferous 



benches are termed reef wash. 

 BETING (Malay) Quartz matrix carrying gold. 

 BLACK BAND A variety of carbonate of iron. 

 BLACK CHALK A variety of clay containing carbon. 

 BLACK JACK Zinc blende. 

 BLACK SAND (Australia) Name given to black iron and other metals 



usually accompanying gold. 

 BLACK TIN Tin ore ready dressed for smelting. 

 BLENDE Sulphide of zinc. 

 BLIND CREEK A creek, dry, except during wet weather, or after a 



freshet caused by melting snow or other cause. 



