562 
P>of. Milne — Across Europe and Asia. 
Tliis would suggest that the constancy in the general character of 
the gold obtained from the Lena, as compared with that from the 
Amoor, is either due to their having originated from different sources, 
or, what is perhaps as probable, that those great causes which acted 
in laying out the beds of alluviuin in which they occur, also acted 
in separating the various qualities of gold according to their respec- 
tive specific gravities, that which was light being carried farthest 
from its source as compared with that which was heavier. If there 
is any probability of such an action ever having taken place, then 
we might suppose that the gold of the Lena district has travelled 
farther from its origin than that in the Amoor. 
In the consideration of such an action, the average relative sizes of 
the trausported particles is an important factor. In the gold of 
Eastern Siberia such metals as platinum or iridium, which are so 
common in the Urals, are but seldom found. A little is, however, 
obtained from the washings at Nertchinsk. 
Whilst in Irkutsk I paid several visits to the smelting works, 
where all the gold of Eastern Siberia is cast into ingots. There is 
a similar establishment at Barnaul for Western Siberia. At these 
works I had every opportunity kindly given me of examining 
large quantities of gold from various localities. The bulk of what 
I saw was more or less roughly granulär, many of the grains being 
as large as peas. I saw many indications of the formation of 
crystals, from which I concluded that such gold had not travelled 
very far from the position in which it had been originally deposited. 
The gold mining all over Russia is under Government control, 
which always specifies that, after obtaining a grant of land, 
one must commence to work upon it within a given time. The 
places which are generally worked are the banks and beds of small 
tributary rivers, but more especially the beds. Near the rnouth of 
the river the yield is generally less than it is higher up. In such 
places the alluvium may be sixty feet in thickness, whilst the bed 
containing the gold, which may be below all tliis, is only perhaps 
seven feet in thickness. The workings generally commence at the 
mouth of a stream, and work up the valley down which it flows to- 
wards its source. The first Operation is to sink a number of trial 
shafts at right angles to the direction of the valley. These go 
down to the bed rock. From the gold-sand which generally lies 
upon this rock samples of 10 pouds each (3601bs.) are taken, then 
washed, and afterwards the yield for 100 pouds is calculated. After 
this has been done at several poiuts, and the results are satisfactory, 
a dam is thrown across the river, and the water is sent round one 
side, along the edge of the valley, instead of down the course in 
which it originally ran. If near the dam they have to sink, say, for 
example, thirty feet, in Order to reach gold, then they must also 
sink thirty feet below the bed at some point below these workings, 
and from it cut a drain in Order to carry off any water which may 
accumulate at the point where they are extracting the gold. 
This is only one System which is adopted in mining and pro- 
specting. There are others specially for prospecting, which are 
