1834.] Miscellaneous. 207 



side, and a female in the centre, on which the rider sits, taking care to choose one 

 which has recently foaled. When in this manner they come to the place where 

 the ants are, the Indians fill their sacks with the sand, and ride back as fast as 

 they can, the ants pursuing them, as the Persians say, by the scent ; the female 

 camel, eager to rejoin her young one, surpassing the others in speed and per- 

 severance. It is thus, according to the Persians, that the Indians ohtain the 

 greater part of their gold ; at the same time that the metal is also found, though 

 in less quantities, in mines." 



Herodotus has so accurately marked the situation of these auriferous deserts 

 that it is impossible to be mistaken. The nation in whose neighbourhood they are 

 situated "live near to Bactria and Pactyica, to the north of the other Indians," 

 and consequently among the mountains of Little Thibet, or Little Bucharia ; and 

 the desert in their vicinity can be no other than that of Cobi, which is bounded 

 by the mountains of the above countries. 



There is no doubt that the account of the historian is applicable to this region. 

 We have already remarked that the lofty chain of mountains which limit the de- 

 sert, is rich in veins of gold ; and not only the rivers which flow from it west- 

 ward, through great Bucharia, but the desert-streams which run to the east and 

 lose themselves in the sand, or in inland seas, all carry down a quattity ot gold- 

 • sand. Besides, who knows not that the adjacent country of Thibet abounds in 

 gold ? Nor can we be surprised if, at the present day, the rivers in question 

 should be less abundant than formerly in that metal, as must, always be the case 

 when it is not obtained by the process of mining, but washed down by a stream. 

 As late, however, as the last century, gold-sand was imported from this country 

 by the caravans travelling to Siberia ; and under Peter the Great this gave occasion 

 to abortive attempts to discover those supposed II Dorados, which were not with- 

 out some beneficial results for the science of geography, though utterly unprofit- 

 able for the purposes of finance. 



That these were not ants, but a larger species of animal, having a skin, is 

 apparent not only from the account of Herodotus, but from that of Megasthenes 

 jn Arrian, (India, OP. p. 179,) who saw their skins, which he describes as being 

 larger than those of foxes. The count Von Veltheim in his Sammlung einiger 

 Auisatze, vol. IT, p. 268, etc., has started the ingenious idea that the skins of 

 the foxes, (Canis Corsak, Linn.) found in great abundance in this country, were 

 employed in the washing of gold, and which, as they burrow in the earth, may- 

 have given rise to the fable. Bold as this conjecture may appear, it deserves to 

 be remarked, as it is in perfect agreement with what we know of the natural his- 

 tory of the country. The actual observation of fresh travellers can alone afford us 

 a complete solution." 



This idea of ttie skins of animals being used in the washing of the gold sand 

 elucidates well the marvellous tale of the Grecian author. It is a common practice 

 in Savoy to this day. Perhaps however the simple account published in the first 

 volume of the present journal, page 16, of the mode employed by the Burmese in 

 collecting the gold dust of the Kyeuduen river by fixing the horns of a peculiar spe- 

 cies of wild cow in the small streams coming from the hills, to entangle the gold dust 

 in the velvet or hairy coat with which the young horns are enveloped, may throw 

 some fresh light on the subject. The horns (Mr. Lane was informed, although him- 

 self rather incredulous) are sold with the gold dust and sand adhering to them for 

 12 or 13 ticals a piece. Now may it not be very probable that in the gold streams 

 to the north of Himalaya, whole fleeces of some small animal were employed for the 

 lame purpose, and were occasionally sold entire ? 



