( 187 ) 



staked down to the ground so as to form long shallow troughs, the 

 bottoms of which are covered with hides tanned with the hair on, 

 having the hairy side outwards, or, in defect of these, with rough 

 baize. Down these troughs is conveyed the water containing the 

 oxide of iron and the lighter particles, of gold ; the latter substance 

 precipitating in its course is entangled by the hair. Every half-hour 

 the hides are taken up, and carried to a tank near at hand, formed 

 of four walls, say five feet long, four broad, and four deep, and con- 

 taining about two feet depth of water. The hides are stretched over 

 this tank and well beaten, then dipped and beaten repeatedly, until 

 all the gold is disentangled, after which they are carried back and 

 replaced in the troughs. The tanks are locked up at nights, and 

 well secured. The sediment taken from them being light is easily 

 washed away by the hand in the manner before described, leaving 

 only the black oxide of iron, called esmeril, and the gold, which is 

 so fine that mercury is used to separate it. The process, as I saw it 

 performed, was as follows: About two pounds weight of oxide of 

 iron, very rich in fine grains of gold, was put in a clean bowl ; a 

 quantity of mercury, about two ounces, was added to it ; the mass 

 of oxide, which was very damp, was worked by the hand for about 

 twenty minutes, when the mercury appeared to have separated the 

 esmeril, and to have taken up all the gold, assuming a soft doughy 

 mass, that retained any form into which it was squeezed. The grains 

 of gold, however, remained not amalgamated with, but merely enve- 

 loped in, the mercury. The mass was put into a folded handker- 

 chief, and an ounce or more of mercury was wrung or squeezed from 

 it. The rest was put into a small brass dish, covered with a few 

 green leaves, and then placed over a charcoal fire, where it was 

 stirred with an iron rod to prevent the gold from adhering to the sides 

 of the dish. The leaves were occasionally changed as they became 

 parched by the heat. When taken off, they exhibited in some parts 

 small globules of mercury, and in others white oxide ; on washing 

 them with water, nearly half an ounce of the former substance was 



B B 2 



