fields, 1879-80, states that the country is covered with tailings, an evidence of the industry of the Korurabas.
In
the province of Mysore alluvions (containing very little gold) are
known to exist near Betmangla, and gold quartz is being mined at
present in different parts of the province.
A
number of the rivers which have their sources on the borders of the
Champaran district and Nepal, in the State of Travancore, contain
auriferous sands, and gold-washing is carried on in these places at the
commencement and termination of the rains. Auriferous sands occur in
the Kumaun and Garhwal rivers. The sands of the river Koh, near
Naginah, in the Maradabad district, are said to contain considerable
gold. In Punjab all the rivers are reported to contain auriferous
sands. Gold-washing has been practised in this district for many
years, and was formerly a source of large revenue to the government.
Asiatic Islands.—The
sands of the streams of Ceylon, Formosa, the Philippine Islands,* and
some of the islands of the Indian Archipelago are known to contain gold
; at Borneo extensive mining operations are carried on by the Chinese
and the natives, over thirty thousand of the former being now employed
in the gold-fields.
China.—In
the beginning of the seventh century the celebrated Chinese traveller,
Hiuen-thsang, describes the country north of the Kuen-Lun, towards the
desert of Gobi, as an auriferous district. It is either here or in the
Thibetan highlands, east of the Bolor chain, between the Himalaya and
the Kuen-Lun, west of Iskardo, that Humboldt locates the land of gold
sand spoken of by the Dara-das (Dardar, or Derder), mentioned in the
Mahabharata, and in the fragments collected by Megasthenes.f
According to Pumpelly $ gold is found in fourteen out
* See Jacob's " Inquiry into the Precious Metals," pp. 367-377.
t Humboldt's " Cosmos," vol. ii. pp. 511-516 ; Jacob's " Inquiry into the Precious Metals,"
P- =5-
X Extract
" Geological Researches in China, Mongolia, and Japan," 1862-65.
Raphael Pumpelly. Smithsonian Contrib., Washington, 1866.
