GOLD-MINEri OF V.AaUIL. 343 



nearly the same depth. A strong man, who is not 

 accustomed to this labour, perspires most profuse- 

 ly with merely carrying up his own body. With 

 this very severe labour, they live entirely on boiled 

 beans and bread. They would prefer having bread 

 alone ; but tlieir masters, finding that they cannot 

 work so hard upon this, treat them like horses, and 

 make them eat the beans. Their pay is here 

 rather more than at the mines of Jajuel, being 

 from 24 to 28 shillings per month. They leave 

 the mine only once in three weeks, when they 

 stay with their families for two days. One of the 

 rules in this mine sounds very harsh, but answers 

 pretty well for the master. The only method of 

 stealing gold is to secrete pieces of the ore, and 

 take them out as occasion may offer. Whenever 

 the major-domo finds a lump thus hidden, its full 

 value is stopped out of the wages of all the men ; 

 who thus, without they all combine, are obliged to 

 keep watch over each other. 



When the ore is brought to the mill, it is ground 

 into an impalpable powder ; the process of wash- 

 ing removes all the lighter particles, and amalga- 

 mation finally secures the gold-dust. The wash- 

 ing, when described, sounds a very simple process ; 

 but it is beautiful to see how the exact adaptation 

 of the current of water to the specific gravity of the 

 gold so easily separates the powdered raatiix from 

 the metal. The mud which passes from the mills 

 is collected into pools, where it subsides, and every 

 now and then is cleared out, and throwii into a 

 common heap. A great deal of chemical action 

 then commences, salts of various kinds effloresce 

 on the sui-face, and the mass becomes hard. After 

 having been left for a year or two, and then re- 

 washed, it yields gold ; and this process may be 

 repeated even six or seven times ; but the gold 



