98 ON GOLD FKOM PEGTT. 



comfort of its inhabitants. I think it extremely desirable that some more 

 efficient, but at the same time simple, apparatus for separating the gold 

 by washing, and also for ariialgamating it with mercury, shoiild be 

 furnished to some intelligent person in the district, as patterns. I would 

 venture to say, that the greatly increased amount of gold, which would 

 be obtained by the use of such improved appliances, would quickly lead 

 to their general adoption within the district. If my examination of the 

 specimens forwarded to me can be taken as yielding anything like an 

 average result, it would appear that nearly one-fourth of the entire 

 amount of gold occurs in such minute particles, that it cannot be separated 

 by washing ; and I have very little doubt, that a very considerable portion^ 

 even of the larger and heavier flakes, are also lost. Indeed, I should 

 think, that the total loss might fairly be estimated as one-half of the 

 entire amount of gold contained in the sand ; and all this is, in all 

 probability, irretrievably lost.* 



* The substance of this note was originally published in No. XIII. of Selections from the 

 Eecords of the Bengal Government, in 1863. 



