Ch. 1: Gold in Ceylon

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	GOLD IN CEYLON. 41

	whether they are pebbles or nuggets of gold. These, however, rarely occur in clayey soil. The cradle is again filled, and so on till the accumulation of mud at the ledges is sufficient for examination. It is then scraped out and examined, the larger gold being carefully picked out, and the remainder washed clean; though much gold is lost for want of quicksilver to take up the fine particles scarcely visible to the eye. River diggings are, however, the most valuable, and it is in these that " nuggets " arc chiefly found. Here more than a superficial examination is necessary, as gold will not in all probability be found at the surface, the holes and crevices in the original rock bed of the stream containing the greatest prizes. The soil, too, may be gravel, in which case, as we have previously explained, when considering the geological character of the gold fields, the precious metal will have percolated through the upper stratum, and will have descended to the bed of the stream below, where it must be sought for. The shovel and the prospecting pan will soon decide this. If after removing the upper stratum they reach a tenacious clay, a -blue colour being considered the best, they will know that this has never been disintegrated by the current, but on the contrary, consolidated, and on the surface of the clay bed they may be pretty certain of finding gold in a comparatively thin layer. Should the prospecting party determine on working a spot presenting the true indications, they dig a trench, and by means of " back troughs" divert the course of the stream. The bed of the stream being thus laid dry, and all the large pebbles and gravel removed, the clay stratum is exposed and washed as before. It will be well to watch for any old bed of the stream, now dry, but one over which the water has formerly flowed. Such dry beds are not un-frequently most productive. It is easy to tell where, in these old beds, an eddy has formerly existed, and there should the search be made. They will here dig till they reach the original bed of the stream, when the gravel will have to be removed as before, and the clay bed will have to be arrived at. The holes thus dug are sometimes of considerable depth, and if a good yield is obtained from the crevices of rock or pockets, as they are termed, the bed is followed and tunnelling commences under the adjoining banks. Sometimes hundreds of pounds' worth are obtained in a single day by parties who possess even the little mining experience which we have endeavoured to impart, whilst others less instructed will be digging away at a hole a few yards distant, with-out a chance of obtaining a single particle of gold.



	(From the Observer, March 23, 1854.) IRON AND ANTHRACITE. Colombo, 21st March, 1854. To the Editor, "Ceylon Observe}." Sir.—Observing in your issue of the 20th inst. a remark that Dr. Gygax is " totally silent as to the existence of anthracite in Ceylon, though he is said to have discovered it," I take the liberty of informing you that the finest specimen of anthracite in the British Museum is labelled as being from " Saffragam, Ceylon." It presents a flat surface of nine to twelve inches, and is beautifully iridescent like some of the best descriptions of coal. It attracted my attention in 1840, on occasion of a visit I then paid to the Museum, and I made many anxious enquiries about it from the Curator of the department, who was, however, unable to give me any further information than that it had been in great Britain, some years previous in the collection of a Col. Gre,ville, and that there could be no doubt of its genuineness. On this I went to my friend, the late William Tindall, who was like myself struck with the importance of the matter, and after another visit to the Museum and, joint inspection of the specimen, we put ourselves in.

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