steam-navvy

Updated: May 13, 2025

Here Norton's Abyssinian tubes, sunk in the bed after it has been carefully worked by the steam-navvy for the rich alluvium underlying the surface, would act like pumps, and dams would form huge tanks. Nor would there be any difficulty in making reservoirs upon the ridge-tops, with launders, or gutters, to collect the rain.

Sir Richard Francis Burton - To The Gold Coast for Gold, Vol. II: A Personal Narrative