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72
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THE PE0GE8S OF REDUCTION.
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wise. The vital question that must be ever kept before them, is not so much the quantity of gold saved, as the quantity lost; and
with every care there must always be some loss, which is ascertainable
by frequent assay of the tailings. The reduction officer's efforts must
therefore be directed to render this percentage of loss as small as
possible. He cannot help the quartz being poor; but if he finds his
tailings show gold on assay, he knows at once that there must be
something defective, either in his machinery or his management. There
is then but one thing to do—to spare no pains to discover where the
weak point is, and, if possible, to remedy it.
I
have more than once mentioned the Korumbers; and I cannot better
conclude this chapter than by a description of their (the native)
method of washing for gold.
The
operation, as practised by them, is exceedingly simple. They use a
slightly hollowed wooden tray of an oval shape. On this tray they place
a few handfuls of finely powdered quartz or earth, and pouring in water
sufficient to cover it, they work the tray and its contents in a
circular direction until the lighter earthy particles float round with
the water, whilst all heavier grains—the gold, of course, with the
rest—sink to the bottom. When this has been done sufficiently long,
with a sudden and peculiar jerk, the water is thrown away, whilst the
heavier sediment is retained. The tray is again filled with
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