14 



Gold Mines of Georgia. 



except in refining it from alloy with other metals, by a process called 

 " parting." All machines for separating, must be adapted to one or 

 the other of the former properties ; they are therefore denomina- 

 ted gravitating and amalgamating machines. The most simple pro- 

 cess is called "panning out," and is performed on the gravitating 

 principle. A tin or other pan, entirely free from grease, about four- 

 teen inches diameter, and two inches and a half deep, is filled vpith 

 the auriferous gravel and taken to a branch or other stream, and the 

 same is washed by stirring it and by inclining the pan, until the light- 

 er substances are carried off, leaving the gold and a fine black ferru- 

 ginous sand at the bottom. This is a very tedious process, but a per- 

 son expert in the practice can secure every particle of gold, however 

 minute. The "hollow gum" is, apparently, the first improvement 

 in the pan ; it is a hollow semi-cylinder, about eight feet long and of 

 a diameter depending on the size of the tree of which it is made, say 

 of from twelve to twenty inches. On the inside there are cleats or 

 riffles fitted close, to prevent the gold they intercept, from passing ; 

 they project about an inch. The gravel is thrown in at the upper 

 end, and there stirred about with a rake, until the water from the 

 conductor a, Fig. 18, washes off the dirt. The gravel is thus thrown 



ofF, and a new supply put in to be acted on as before. When the 

 work for the time is done, the contents of the gum are put into the 

 pan, and the garnets, ferruginous sand, he. washed off, thus complet- 

 ing the process. I should have mentioned that the gum was kept 

 rocking by a man at the lev«r, as represented in the figure. Compar- 

 ed with the pan, there can be no doubt that the gum saves labor, but it, 

 as certainly, in careless hands, increases the risk of not saving the gold. 



