8 Olmsted on the Gold Mines of Korth Carolina. 



or four feet of dark coloured mud, full of stones in angular 

 fragments. At this depth he meets with that peculiar 

 stratum of gravel and clay, which he recognizes as the 

 matrix of the gold. If the mud be very dense and tena- 

 cious he accounts it a good sign ; and if stains or streaks 

 of yellow occasionally appear on the blue mud, it is a for- 

 tunate symptom. Sometimes he penetrates through a 

 stratum of the ferruginous oxide of manganese, in a rotten 

 friable state. This he denominates "cinders,'' and regards 

 it also as a favorable omen. Having arrived at the proper 

 stratum, which is only a few inches thick, he removes it 

 with a spade into the •' cradle.'' This is a semi-cylinder 

 laid on it? side, (like a barrel bisected longitudinally and 

 laid flat-wise,) and made to rock like a cradle on two par- 

 allel poles of wood. The cradle being half filled with the 

 rubbish, water is there laded in, so as nearly lo fill the ves- 

 sel. The cradle is now set to rocking, the gravel being 

 occasionally stirred with an iron rake, until the coarse 

 stones are entirely freed from the blue mud, — a part of 

 the process which is the more difficult, on account of the 

 dense adhesive quality of the mud. By rocking the cradle 

 a-apidly, the water is thrown overboard, loaded with as 

 much mud as it is capable of suspending. The coarser 

 stones are then picked out by hand, more water is added, 

 and the same process is repeated. On pouring out the 

 water a second time, (which is done by inclining the cra- 

 dle on one side,) a layer of coarse gravel appears on the 

 top, which is scraped off by hand. At the close of each 

 washing, a similar layer of gravel appears on the top, which 

 appears more and more comminuted until it graduates into 

 fine sand, covering the bottom of the cradle; At length 

 this residuum is transferred to an iron dish, which is dipped 

 horizontally into a pool of water, and subjected to a rotary 

 motion. All the remaining earthy matter goes overboard, 

 and nothing remains but a fine sand, chiefly ferruginous, and 

 the particles of gold for which the whole labour has been 

 performed. These are frequently no larger than a pin's 

 head, but vary in size from mere dust to pieces weighing 

 one or two pennyweights. Large pieces, when they oc- 

 cur, are usually picked out at a previous stage of the pro- 

 cess. 



