The washing, when described, sounds a very simple process; but it is beautiful to see how the exact adaptation of the current of water to the specific gravity of the gold so easily separates the powdered matrix from the metal.

The mud which passes from the mills is collected into pools, where it subsides, and every now and then is cleared out, and thrown into a common heap.

A great deal of chemical action then commences, salts of various kinds effloresce on the surface, and the mass becomes hard.

After having been left for a year or two, and then rewashed, it yields gold; and this process may be repeated even six or seven times; but the gold each time becomes less in quantity, and the intervals required (as the inhabitants say, to generate the metal) are longer.

There can be no doubt that the chemical action, already mentioned, each time liberates fresh gold from some combination.