
































14 Notes of a tour in the Tributary Mehals, “+[ Nomad 
stratum of vegetable mould and the red soil beneath it, and come 
to a layer of pebbles and fragments, chiefly of quartz, forming a 
dirty damp gravel; this they remove and wash. I have watched 
their operations close along the banks of the river, and at some 
miles distant from the stream, and the process and result was much 
the same in both places. Near the river, five pits or shafts had been 
recently sunk by as many families of Jhorahs, for they work in 
families, women and children assisting. They had one washing trough, 
called a‘dooin,’ to each family, andthewashing commenced in my presence. 
The stuff selected is either of a dirty drab or of a reddish colour, with 
occasional small white spots, little balls of particles of decomposed 
felspar, adhering together from moisture, and drying into powder. 
The Jhorahs regard these white spots as the surest indication that the 
gravel contains gold. The stratum of gravel which they were working 
on this occasion was not more than a foot in depth. It rests on 
decomposed granite, which crumbles when taken in the hand, and the 
gold-washers assured me that this contained no gold, but I insisted on 
having some of it washed, and found their statement not strictly cor- 
rect. It contains gold, but is less rich in the mineral than the gravel 
above. When the gravel immediately under the shaft is all removed, 
they scoop out from the sides all round, as far as they dare venture to 
penetrate laterally, and in this way sometimes connect the shafts, but 
they take no precautions, and sometimes, going too far, have to be dug 
out, not always alive! There appear to have been several accidents of 
the kind, but with all this danger and labour, the pursuit does not 
return sufficient to support them, and they are farmers as well as gold- 
washers. 
They are greedy and reckless in taking advances, trusting much, no 
doubt, to the facilities their remote situation gives them, of evading 
payment, and some of them are enormously in debt. One man was 
pointed out to me as owing Rs. 1000! He grinned as the sum was 
mentioned, as if exulting over his victim. The greed for gold and the 
gambling nature of the pursuit is surely a great corrupter of human 
nature, for in the midst of a population generally remarkable for 
honesty, truthfulness and simplicity, these gold-washers are menda- 
cious and unscrupulous rogues. 
Some years ago, a trader came amongst them whilst they were at 
