270 Account of the progress employed for obtaining [March, 



It was one of the poetical phases of the steppe, oftener spoken of 

 than encountered, and probably never seen south of the Oorahl river. 

 At some distance onward we came upon a party of diggers for gold. 



There was nothing in the spot they occupied to distinguish it from 

 the steppe around. It was covered with turf and wild flowers spring- 

 ing from a black vegetable soil. It was not even the bed of a water- 

 course ; although such are very generally selected, owing to the gold 

 being there brought to light by the action of torrents. The workmen 

 dug away the superficial crust of black soil, working very carefully as 

 they n eared the bottom and leaving a layer about three inches thick 

 untouched. When a considerable space had been thus prepared, they 

 commenced excavating the soil to be washed for gold. This was done 

 by digging through the thin layer of black soil not hitherto disturbed 

 and to the depth of about one foot into the substratum, which is a 

 hard table of clay and sand with fragments of schists and serpentine. 

 The gold appears generally to lie upon the surface of this, but is some- 

 times found beneath. The v/hole of the earth now excavated is carried 

 in barrows to the washing-house, where seives of different degrees of 

 fineness are shaken by water -work under the current of the stream. 

 From the residue the gold is carefully extracted. It is generally of 

 such size as to need no aid from mercury. The machinery appeared 

 to me simple and well adapted to the process. It was not possible for 

 me to make notes : but my impression is that the profits amount to 

 about 75 per cent, in these the good washings : and the small price of 

 labour, and the richness of the masses exhibited, as that year's collection, 

 made me easily credit the account. These are the richest gold mines in 

 the world, and appear to be inexhaustible, every year leading to the dis- 

 covery of fresh riches, although they are supposed to have been worked 

 from very ancient days ; the name Zlataoost signifying mouth of gold. 



The phenomena of these golden debris (for mines they can scarcely 

 be called) are peculiar and lead to speculation. The gold dust so often 

 found in the sand of rivers, streams and torrents, is generally attributed 

 to some rocky veins in the higher sands. Here, there is no appearance 

 of such an origin. Previous to the growth and deposit of the present 

 black vegetable soil, the gold seems to have lain strown like pebbles, 

 over the surface of the hard clay and schist stratum : not particularly 

 in the channels of torrents, but as if it had fallen in a general shower. 



