96 ON GOLD FROM PEGU. 



If the specimen ofthe auriferous sand forwarded by Captain Berdmore 

 be taken as a fair average sample of the kind of soil, and of the amount 

 of gold contained in it, it would follow from our examination, (by which 

 means nearly a grain of gold was procured from about the fifth part of a 

 cubic foot of the soil,) that a cubic yard of the same sand should afford 

 about 135 grains of gold. Or, if we reject from the calculation the 

 portion obtained by amalgamation, viz., 0'20 of a grain, we should have 

 as the yield by washing alone, 101 '25, or say on an average 100 grains of 

 gold for each cubic yard of the sand washed. 



This sand is stated to be the surface soil, and being therefore 

 readily accessible, without the labor of sinking deep pits, or the cost 

 of keeping such pits open, two men could with great ease raise and 

 wash a cubic yard of such sandy soil in a day. There would, therefore, 

 be 100 grains of gold as the remuneration for one day's work for two 

 men, or 50 grains per man per day. This gold would be worth about 

 (£S) three pounds (British) per ounce, that is, the produce per man 

 per day would be equivalent in value to -^fg of £S, or to six shillings 

 and three-pence per day : an ample remuneration, no doubt, for ordinary 

 workmen ; but scarcely sufficient to tempt many adventurers to visit the 

 locality. 



I would not be understood to state that sucb would be the average 

 yield of the auriferous soil of the districts referred to. Such deposits, 

 from the very conditions under which they have been formed, are 

 necessarily very variable in character and in richness ; and experience 

 alone could furnish a fair estimate. But judging from the only data to 

 which I have access, such would be the amount obtainable from this 

 sand. 



I would further state that the geological structure of the greater 

 portion of the Malay Peninsula, extending to Arracan Northwards, so 

 far as it is at present known, indicates the probability of aiuriferous 

 deposits being found throughout the whole extent, on the flanks of the 



