They leave the mine only once in
three weeks; when they stay with their families for two days. One
of the rules of this mine sounds very harsh, but answers pretty
well for the master. The only method of stealing gold is to secrete
pieces of the ore, and take them out as occasion may offer.
Whenever the major-domo finds a lump thus hidden, its full value is
stopped out of the wages of all the men; who thus, without they all
combine, are obliged to keep watch over each other.
When the ore is brought to the mill, it is ground into an
impalpable powder; the process of washing removes all the lighter
particles, and amalgamation finally secures the gold-dust. The
washing, when described, sounds a very simple process; but it is
beautiful to see how the exact adaptation of the current of water
to the specific gravity of the gold so easily separates the
powdered matrix from the metal. The mud which passes from the mills
is collected into pools, where it subsides, and every now and then
is cleared out, and thrown into a common heap. A great deal of
chemical action then commences, salts of various kinds effloresce
on the surface, and the mass becomes hard. After having been left
for a year or two, and then rewashed, it yields gold; and this
process may be repeated even six or seven times; but the gold each
time becomes less in quantity, and the intervals required (as the
inhabitants say, to generate the metal) are longer.
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