Getting Gold | Page 4

Company, Limited; Exeter Street, Strand, London. It is the
second edition, revised. Numerous drawings and diagrams have been
omitted.

PREFACE
Some six years ago the author published a small book entitled
"Practical Mining," designed specially for the use of those engaged in
the always fascinating, though not as invariably profitable, pursuit of
"Getting Gold." Of this ten thousand copies were sold, nearly all in
Australasia, and the work is now out of print. The London /Mining
Journal/ of September 9th, 1891, said of it: "We have seldom seen a
book in which so much interesting matter combined with useful
information is given in so small a space."
The gold-mining industry has grown considerably since 1891, and it

appeared to the writer that the present would be a propitious time to
bring out a similar work, but with a considerably enlarged scope. What
has been aimed at is to make "Getting Gold" a compendium, in
specially concrete form, of useful information respecting the processes
of winning from the soil and the after- treatment of gold and gold ores,
including some original practical discoveries by the author. Practical
information, original and selected, is given to mining company
directors, mine managers, quartz mill operators, and prospectors. In
"Rules of Thumb," chapters XI. and XII., will be found a large number
of useful hints on subjects directly and indirectly connected with gold-
mining.
The author's mining experience extends back thirty years and he
therefore ventures to believe with some degree of confidence that the
information, original or compiled, which the book contains, will be
found both useful and profitable to those who are in any capacity
interested in the gold-mining industry.
J. C. F. J.
LONDON, November, 1896.

GETTING GOLD
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
GOLD is a name to charm by. It is desired by all nations, and is the one
metal the supply of which never exceeds the demand. Some one has
aptly said, "Gold is the most potent substance on the surface of our
planet." Tom Hood sings:
Gold, gold, gold, gold! Bright and yellow, hard and cold; Molten,
graven, hammered, rolled, Heavy to get, and light to hold; Stolen,
borrowed, squandered, doled.

That this much appreciated metal is heavy to get is proved by the high
value which has been placed on it from times remote to date, and that it
is light to hold most of us know to our cost.
We read no farther than the second chapter in the Bible when we find
mention of gold. There Moses speaks of "the land of Havilah, where
there is gold"; and in Genesis, chapter xxiv., we read that Abraham's
servant gave Rebekah an earring of half a shekel weight, say 5 dwt. 13
grs., and "two bracelets of ten shekels weight," or about 4 1/2 ozs. Then
throughout the Scriptures, and, indeed, in all historic writings, we find
frequent mention of the king of metals, and always it is spoken of as a
commodity highly prized.
I have sometimes thought, however, that either we are mistaken in the
weights used by the Hebrew nation in early days, or that the arithmetic
of those times was not quite "according to Cocker." We read, I. Kings x.
and xli., that Solomon in one year received no less than six hundred
and three score and six talents of gold. If a talent of gold was, as has
been assumed, 3000 shekels of 219 grains each, the value of the golden
treasure accumulated in this one year by the Hebrew king would have
been 3,646,350 pounds sterling. Considering that the only means of
"getting gold" in those days was a most primitive mode of washing it
from river sands, or a still more difficult and laborious process of
breaking the quartz from the lode without proper tools or explosives,
and then slowly grinding it by hand labour between two stones, the
amount mentioned is truly enormous.
Of this treasure the Queen of Sheba, who came to visit the Hebrew
monarch, contributed a hundred and twenty talents, or, say, 600,000
pounds worth. Where the Land of Ophir, whence this golden lady came,
was really situated has evoked much controversy, but there is now a
general opinion that Ophir was on the east coast of Africa, somewhere
near Delagoa Bay, in the neighbourhood of the Limpopo and Sabia
rivers. It should be mentioned that the name of the "black but comely"
queen was Sabia, which may or may not be a coincidence, but it is
certainly true that the rivers of this district have produced gold from
prehistoric times till now.

The discovery of remarkable ruins in the newly acquired province of
Mashonaland, which evince a high state of civilisation in the builders,
may throw some light on this interesting subject.
The principal value of gold is as