"The
original discoverer, William Bradley, more commonly known among his
comrades by the gentler name of * Bil,' is according to his own
account, a native of Middlesex; and, has spent many years in the
gold-fields of California and Australia, by turns ' prospecting,' and
taking part in the still more lucrative pursuits, which invariably
follow in the wake of the diggers. From Australia he shipped in the '
Martin Luther' for this port, and, not as the Observer has it,
took a few days' leave, but obtained his regular discharge, owing to a
difference with the captain on account of a proposal to reduce his pay
from ;£i2 to £4 per mensem for the remainder of the voyage. Two
or three from his own ship followed his example, and being struck with
the similarity of this country to the gold districts of Australia and
California, they turned into the fields off the Kandy road, when under
Bill's guidance, with their clasp knives and a tin basin, they found a
few specks of Gold.
"Inspirited
by their success so far, they returned to Colombo for supplies, and
being soon after joined by four others, who, in like manner, obtained
their discharges from the ' Faithful,' they started on a second
expedition. By the direction of the school-master at Weweldeniya, when
enquiring about the large rivers of the place, they struck upon the
Maha-Oya, and following its course upwards for a considerable distance
(with the exception of one who turned back), they at length halted at a
spot about four miles from Ambepusse, on the further bank of the
stream."
The "Observer's" Gold Intelligence.
A
personal inspection of the so-called " Diggings" has added but little
to the previously established fact as to the existence of gold. It may,
and probably .. will be found in sufficient quantity to pay when
operations have fairly commenced; but as yet nothing of the sort has
been accomplished. The seven sailors, who are a happy, well-conducted
set of men, and are taking things easy, have raised and washed about
300 or 400 cubic feet of gravel and stones, from which they say they
obtained about an ounce at least (judging by guess) of gold, which they
have given away to different persons—principally for Government. On
Monday morning we witnessed the washing of 16 buckets of gravel, done
at the request of the Government Agent of the Western Province, and
which produced half a grain weight of gold; and on Tuesday morning 12
baskets washed for ourselves yielded about the same quantity, but
containing the largest specimen that has yet been seen—about the size
of the half of a small pin's head flattened. We have also this morning
seen an unmistakeable flake of gold washed from a single basin of
gravel taken from ihe bed of the river. Whilst we were at the spot, the
men were engaged in sewing a hose some 150 yards long, for the purpose
of conveying water from a temporary dam which the natives, at the
desire of the Government Agent, were assisting them to construct. When
these should be completed, as was expected about Tuesday evening or
Wednesday morning, the men intended to set to work in earnest, and
entertained the most sanguine expectations of success. They said they
considered the appearances more promising than in either California or
Australia, for though they might not find large nuggets here, the "
colour of the gold" or minute particles were so generally diffused,
that experience taught them it was the most profitable soil to work in.
In those countries a man, they said, might dig for weeks without "
getting the colour," but here it was always present, and would
therefore give a constant yield. They had been 7 or 8 days "
prospecting" before they selected the spot, but had found " the colour"
in several other places, especially in the same river, both higher up
and lower down.
The
locality is situated just within the first gneiss ranges of the hilly
country. The spot they have selected is in a sudden bend of the river,
where the eddy of floods has thrown up a quantity of small gneiss
boulders, with rounded quartz, stones, and a quantity of quartz gravel.
The bed of the river is over gneiss— the hardest part remaining, but
smoothed—the softer being worn out into deep chinks. The stones and
gravel lying upon this they wash—especially the sand lying upon the "
bed rock," and in the chinks or " pockets " which have to be
