The greatest amount found on one day was 2-2
grains, but the daily averages given above should not be taken as
indicative of the amount of gold to be found by a regular system of
working, where the washers would of course be set at favourable spots,
and would not have to spend a considerable portion of their time daily,
as was the case of the men I employed, in making marches before they
reached the scene of their labours.
It
is conceivable that the fact of the greater quantity of gold being
found in the superficial deposits within the sub-metamorphic area might
be attributable to somethingin the configuration or elevation of the
ground conducive to the greater accumulation of gold within that area.
I could not, however, discover anything of this kind; the fall to south
is gradual throughout both formations. The origin of the gold which is
annually found in the rivers at present is, I believe, twofold, a
portion being directly derived from the rocks, and the remainder
resulting from the reassort-ment of detritus which is the remnant of
sub-aerial action. In both formations, the evidences of extensive
sub-aerial action are numerous and prominent, and it is obvious that
Nature has been carrying on gold-washing operations in the valleys
since denudation first commenced to scoop them out, leaving barriers of
intervening ranges of hills formed of the hardest rocks between them.
Various
Papers in the "Asiatic Society's Journal" describe the methods of
gold-washing practised in different parts of India. The instruments
used, though essentially the same in principle throughout, have local
peculiarities of shape, &c, and the manner of manipulation also
varies. At Hira Khund, in Sambalpur,* the same instrument and
manipulation served for the separation of both diamonds and gold. In
fact the diamonds were found in the middle of the process, the iron
sand with specks of gold being the final residue. In Manbhum and
Singbhum the instruments used are, perhaps, more simple than those
used in * "Jour. Asiatic Soc. Bengal," viii. 1057. 1839.
