228 In the Heart of Africa 



the stones, sand, etc., whilst the gold sinks to the bottom, in 

 consequence of its specific gravity, and settles in the clefts and 

 crevices of the boards. Pieces are found of the size of a pea 

 or bean intermingled with granular gold, whilst the lighter refined 

 gold flows on with the sand and is caught on the table at the 

 foot of the sluice (a square board in which a number of hollows 

 have been made). The biggest nugget found up to the middle 

 of 1909 had the very respectable weight of 300 grammes, and 

 another weighed 150 grammes. 



When we visited the place five " champtiers " * were in 

 operation, on each of which a sluice was kept going. Probably 

 this number has been increased since then. The sluice gold is 

 collected once a month, the amount, of course, varying accord- 

 ing to the richness of the creek. 



The gross amount taken monthly at Kilo when we were there 

 came to about 30-35 kilograms, valued at from 90-100,000 

 francs. This, however, was only a small amount as compared 

 with the wealth that the soil contained, and could easily have 

 been quadrupled if the prospectors had been more energetic, if 

 the negro labour had been better controlled, and if more sluices, 

 etc., had been constructed. 



The gold collected is refined by a chemist in a laboratory 

 at Kilo, and then re-melted into ingots the size of bricks, each 

 worth 37,000 francs. The first large consignment of these ingots, 

 valued at 1,000,000 francs, had been sent just before our arrival 

 to Herr Schulz, the German Vice-Consul, the representative of 

 the Victoria Nyanza Agency. From there it was transmitted to 

 Brussels. 



So far it has not been possible to ascertain the precise limits 

 of the gold region. As, however, the area is an enormous one, 

 it is not to be wondered at that up to the present no creek has 

 been worked without result. 



Reef gold must also be taken into consideration. No shaft 

 had been sunk when I was there. The rivers Shari and Ituri 

 carried, however, so much gold that the management, following 

 * Workings on the creek. 



