The Party Rested A Day At Shrondo, But The Distressing Circumstances In
Which They Were Involved Did Not Prevent Park From Visiting The Gold
Mines In The Neighbourhood, And He Gives In His Journal A Curious Account
Of The Method In Which The Gold Is Obtained.
He was guided by a woman to
a meadow where there were dug about thirty pits.
Beside these lay heaps
of sand and gravel, to be conveyed to circular wash-pits, which were
lined with clay. Two calabashes are used, one large, into which the
gravel is put; the other small, with which the water is poured in. The
sand is then covered with the water, carefully crumbled down and shaken
in the calabash, and the lighter parts thrown out, till all that remains
is a black substance, called gold-rust. The shaking is then repeated, and
the grains of gold are sought out. Two pounds of gravel yield about
twenty-three particles of gold, some of which are very small; and the
bulk of gold-rust is about forty times that of the gold. The washing only
takes place at the time of the rains.
They next proceeded along the mountains of Konkodoo to Dindikoo, where
they saw a number of gold-pits, sunk about twelve feet deep, with notches
in the sides for steps. The mountains were lofty and steep, composed of a
coarse species of red granite, but cultivated to the very tops, and the
villages built in their glens were singularly romantic.
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