1843.] Visit to the Pakchan River. 529 



This tin soil consisted of fine grey sand, mixed with quartz and gra- 

 nite pebbles, and was taken from near the surface of the bed of the 

 water-course ; it was not here more than eighteen inches deep, for as 

 soon as the iron pick, with which it was loosened, penetrated to the clay, 

 they seemed assured there was no tin below. The subsoil all around 

 is said to contain tin, the deposit of former periods ; and in some of 

 their excavations, I observed soil precisely similar to that from which 

 tin was washed on the lower levels. From its occurrence so near the 

 surface in existing water-courses, which from their slope must become 

 rapids during the rains, I infer that tin must be washed down from its 

 source in considerable quantities every year. 



The trough used for washing is circular, about eighteen inches in 

 diameter and six inches deep, in which the sand and gravel is piled 

 and washed, as before described, by a rotatory motion of the hand 

 Specimens of the soil, and of the produce of separate washings are sent, 

 numbered 1. During the dry season, little or nothing is done in 

 collecting tin, but preparations only are made by trenching for con- 

 siderable distances along the brow, or down the slopes of the adjacent 

 hill, to obtain a fall of water during the rains. Under this the soil 

 is collected, when the sand and pebbles are washed away, leaving the 

 tin behind. Some of these trenches were from ten to twelve feet 

 deep, and one of about three feet deep was nearly 200 yards in 

 length. The fall so obtained saves the laborious process of washing 

 with the trough in a stooping position, which is irksome to the men, 

 but which women and children are said to perform with greater ease. 



9. The next day I went again in a Northerly direction five miles, to 

 visit three other localities, where other parties of Chinamen were 

 engaged in similar works. At each of these places, there were from 

 eight to twelve men employed in preparations for work during the 

 ensuing rains. The surface soil is a rich red mould, the subsoil of 

 the same grey sand and quartz pebbles as before, with abundance 

 of tin intermixed, and rests upon granite. 



The three spots visited this day have all the same character; from 

 the first the separate washings were less productive than from the 

 other two ; but at these the quantity produced each time surprised me, 

 and drew forth an exclamation of pleasure from the Chinamen engaged 

 in collecting it for my inspection. The greatest quantity of clean ore 



