280 Note on the Gold Washings of the Gumti River. [May, 



toll is paid, there does not appear to be any desire or competition on 

 the part of the natives to carry it on, by which we may draw a tole- 

 rably accurate conclusion on the returns of the trade as it now exists. 

 The apparatus used by the washers consists simply of a trough, a 

 sieve made of the Sirkunda grass, a fiat piece of board, with an iron 

 edge for scraping up the sand, a plate or dish for carrying it away, and 

 triturating the sand with mercury, and a ladle or spoon made of a 

 gourd, for raising water : with these and a little mercury in the end 

 of a hollow bambu our gold-washer starts on his pilgrimage. I have 

 endeavoured in the accompanying sketch PI. XVII. to give some idea of 

 the process, and this will perhaps be clear enough without much expla- 

 nation. The gold washer, in the first instance, examines the soil by 

 washing a small quantity in his hand, the smallest particle or particles 

 of the metal are easily detected: the soil holding the greatest quantity 

 appears to be that in the line upon which the drainage of the river takes 

 place, for these mountain streams occupy but a small space of their chan- 

 nel during the dry months, or even at any time, with the exception of 

 those periods, during the rainy months, when very heavy and succes- 

 sive falls of rain charge every channel with its full supply. The 

 situation proving favorable, the washer then establishes his trough ; 

 the sand is placed on the sieve, and water thrown over it with the 

 spoon : the coarser particles are thus separated and thrown away ; the 

 man still continues pouring water through the sieve over the sand in 

 the trough, until nothing remains there but an almost impalpable 

 blackish powder ; in this powder the gold dust is perceptible. This 

 powder is then collected and taken out of the trough, forming a mass 

 capable of being held in both hands : this is triturated with a small 

 quantity of mercury on the dish or basin B, and the whole is again 

 subjected to a careful washing with the hand on this dish : this latter 

 washing removes every thing, but a small piece of mercury and gold 

 in amalgam. The gold-washer then lights a piece of cow-dung, upon 

 which he places the amalgam, and (as far as I observed in their manu- 

 factories) his labor was repaid by the smallest piece of the precious 

 metal imaginable. The rains are said to be the best and most profi- 

 table season : at this period, two rupees per day may be the return of 

 one trough under a gold- washer and one assistant, the worst day's pro- 

 duce about two annas; the gold is either sold to the bunids at the 

 large towns in the neighbourhood, or given to zamindars for an 

 equivalent. 



There is a great loss of particles of the gold in the system of wash- 

 ing adopted here, many of which must pass off through the trough ; 

 there is also a total loss of mercury : the latter might be easily reme- 



