464 Account of the Golden Ore found [Sept. 



was shortly to take me. I accordingly directed my people to make 

 every inquiry which might tend to establish the fact, and offered a 

 reward to any who would communicate information respecting it. 



This being held out throughout the country within my reach, a 

 rayat of a small village called Wurigam, presented himself and offered 

 to show the place, which he asserted was close to his village. 



Being unwilling to interrupt the service on which I was then em- 

 ployed, I requested, before taking any steps, that a quantity of the 

 impregnated earth might be brought and examined in my presence : 

 accordingly on the 11th of February, this man returned to Battaman- 

 galam, where I then was, with twenty loads of earth, which being 

 tried, yielded a proportion of gold dust as had been asserted. 



Having thus satisfied myself that there actually was in the neigh- 

 bourhood a certain spot where the earth was impregnated with gold, 

 I resolved on visiting it : and accordingly sat out for Wurigam on 

 the 1 7th of February, accompanied by the man who originally gave 

 the information. 



On my arrival at Wurigam, my guide assembled all the women in 

 the village, for the purpose of collecting and washing the impregnate 

 ed earth : this part of the business being entirely assigned to them, 

 and each being provided with a small broom, a vaning basket, and an 

 hollow board to receive the earth, moved to a thin jungle which lies 

 close west of the village. 



On arriving at the ground, they separated, and took to small nalas, 

 or rather rutts and breaks in the ground, into which the course of 

 the water is most likely to drive the ore, and removing the gravel 

 with their hands, they swept the earth underneath into their vaning 

 baskets, by the help of which they further cleared it of the smaller 

 stones, and threw it in the hollow board above-mentioned. 



Having collected a sufficient quantity of earth, they removed to a 

 neighbouring tank, in order to separate the metal which it contained, 

 and this was done by placing the hollow board, which contained it, 

 in such a situation in the water as to be just overflowed when resting 

 on the ground, and no more. They then with great dexterity stirred 

 the earth about with the hand, so as to keep it as much as possible over 

 the centre of the board, that the metal should fall into the pit of it, 

 by its own weight, and that the earth should wash off over the edges. 

 This operation (which generally lasts a few minutes) being performed, 

 they returned the metallic substance, which they thus cleared, into a 

 piece of a broken earthen pot, examining beforehand whether or not it 

 contained any gold. This process is performed by inclining the board, 

 and with the hand passing water over the metallic sediment which ad- 



