Getting Gold | Page 4

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 a medium of exchange, and its high appreciation is due, first, to the fact that it is in almost universal request; and, secondly, to its comparative scarcity; yet, oddly enough, with the exception of that humble but serviceable metal iron, gold is the most widely distributed metal known. Few, if any, countries do not possess it, and in most parts of the world, civilised and uncivilised, it is mined for and brought to market. The torrid, temperate, and frigid zones are almost equally auriferous. Siberia, mid-Asia, most parts of Europe, down to equatorial and southern Africa in the Old World, and north, central, and southern America, with Australasia, in what may be termed the New