Up the Puruni River. 329 
the hope of discovering the quartz vein from which the 
gold has come. 
There are certain rules which nearly always hold good 
with regard to the deposits of placer gold. The metal is 
never found far from the veins from which it has come. 
It has been liberated by mechanical forces from the 
quartz which originally contained it, and both metal 
and shattered fragments of rock have been washed down 
the hill slopes by the action of rain or floods, the nuggets 
and coarse gold being always discovered nearest the 
veins from which they have come, and the pieces de- 
creasing gradually in size as the distance from the vein 
increases. In the Puruni, as in placer districts generally, 
the pay dirt is richer at the bends of the creeks or water 
courses, where there appears to have at some time 
existed a dam or impediment to the free flow of the 
water, and also richer at the junction of two creeks 
though one of them may not be auriferous. This is no 
doubt owing to the heavy specific gravity of gold, which 
sinks at once and remains fixed on any diminution in the 
velocity of the carrying agent. Round the roots of the 
trees — Mora, Corkwood etc. — near the creek beds, which 
spread widely over the ground, the deposits are also 
richer owing to the same cause. 
The implements used in the colony for the extraction 
of gold have of late been so often described that it is not 
necessary to touch upon the subject here, except to men- 
tion that the best form of torn and torpedo or trapeador, 
is that used by Mr. Lawrence Forbes and obtainable 
from the store of Messrs. Crosby & FORBES in Water 
Street, Georgetown. This machine possesses great 
advantages over those commonly in use. In the first 
