544 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 
Sir Henry Rawlinson, and independently Professor Frederic 
Schiern, Professor of History at the University of Copenhagen, 
to clear up a mystery which has been a puzzle to the historians 
and philosophers of many countries for upwards of 2,000 years. 
A translation of Professor Schiern’s paper,* by Anna M. H. 
Childers, will be found in the “ Indian Antiquary.”t It is a most 
remarkable example of learned research, and one very difficult to 
give in abstract. It is entitled “The Tradition of the Gold- 
digging Ants.” But perhaps before giving the conclusions which 
Sir Henry Rawlinson and Professor Schiern have arrived at, will 
be best in this place to briefly describe the Pundits’ observa- 
tions :— 
“During the expedition of 1867 the Pundit who had been at Lassa 
fell in at Thok Jalung, an important gold field in the province of Nari 
Khossam, with a large encampment of Thibetan miners, and took the 
opportunity to gain information relative to the working of the mines. 
In the third expedition, in 1868, another Pundit passed on as far as 
Rudok, at the north-west extremity of Chinese Thibet, on the frontier 
of Ladak, and on his way back from Rudok visited the gold fields of 
Thok Nianmo, Thok Sarlung,t and Thok Jarlung. The map which 
accompanies Major Montgomery’s narrative of the journeys of the 
Pundits gives in addition the gold fields of Thok Munnak, Thok 
Ragyok, Thok Ragung, and Thok Dalung.))°.0°.) = ))the miners) 
camp at Thok Jarlung, according to the measurements of the Pundits, is 
16,300 feet above the sea level.” 
The cold is intense, and the miners in winter are thickly 
clad with furs. 
“The miners do not merely remain under ground when at work, but 
their small black tents, which are made of a felt-like material manufac- 
tured from the hair of the Yak, are set in a series of pits, with steps 
leading down to them . . . seven or eight feet below the surface of 
the ground.” . . . “Spite of the cold the diggers prefer working 
in winter ; and the number of their tents, which in summer amounts to 
300. rises to nearly 600 in winter. They prefer the winter as the frozen 
soil then stands well, and is not likely to trouble them much by falling 
in.” 
* Verhand. Kgl. Danischen Gesellsch. der Wissensch. for 1870. Printed separately in 
Danish, German, and French. 
+ Vol. IV., p. 225. 
{ Thok Sarlung had at one time been the chief gold field of the district, “‘ but had in a 
great measure been abandoned on the discovery of the Thok Jarlung gold field. The 
Pundit passed a great excavation some 30 to 40 feet deep, 200 feet in width, and two 
miles in length from which the gold had been extracted.”—‘‘Jour. As. Soc. Bengal.” 
Vol. XXXIX., Pt. 2, p. 53, 1870. 
