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When the rivers in the district of Manica and other gold-washing places have been flooded, they leave a coating of mud on the banks. The natives observe the spots which dry soonest, and commence digging there, in firm belief that gold lies beneath. They are said not to dig deeper than their chins, believing that if they did so the ground would fall in and kill them.
That's what got Raintree. He hunted all over the garden, prospected every part of it, ye kin see the holes yet, but he never even got the color!" * That is, a viscid cement-like refuse of gold-washing. He paused, and then, as the colonel made an impatient gesture, he went on.
"Slumgullion" was the name given by the miners to a certain soft, half-liquid mud, formed of the water and finely powdered earth that was carried off by the sluice-boxes during gold-washing, and eventually collected in a broad pool or lagoon before the outlet.
The cascarilleros explained this appearance as due to former arrangements for gold-washing in an old river-bed, the San Gavan or the Ayapata, that had now changed its locality.
"Oh, no, it isn't. That's good gold, and if properly treated the sand and gravel are rich enough to pay well." "When I go gold-washing I shall want to be where you can find nuggets and scales in plenty," said Brace. "Ah, so I suppose," replied Briscoe.
But their stories were not pure fictions. It may well be believed that in and near the rivers which flow from the Alps and the Pyrenees gold-washing and searches for gold, which are unprofitable at the present value of labour, were worked with profit and on a considerable scale in ruder times and with a system of slavery; besides, the commercial relations of Gaul may, as is not unfrequently the case with half-civilized peoples, have favoured the accumulation of a dead stock of the precious metals.
Might like to sail back, p'r'aps, Mr Briscoe," he continued, "and give the copperskins a friendly word about hope they're not damaged, and then settle down in the shallows for a good afternoon's gold-washing." "Not to-day, thankye, skipper," said the American drily. "It might be teaching the savages how to catch the gold fever, as you called it, and be bad for their health."
He had a run of bad luck, and, when he left off, had to work for six weeks, at gold-washing, for his antagonist, who fed him on nothing better than acorn bread. Mr. Neligh, who told me of this circumstance, had seen the man at work duly fulfilling his engagement.
The Miss Gilpins told their brother that the universal subject of conversation during the voyage was gold, gold-digging, gold-washing, gold-scraping. "Like the old man in the `Pilgrim's Progress' with his muck-rake, always scraping with downcast looks, never gazing upwards," remarked James.
"The rascals," he said, "hide a little gold in a claim that is valueless, and, digging it up as you have seen, wash it out in the presence of newcomers, in the hope of taking them in. But here we come to a party who will show you a little of legitimate gold-washing."
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