1 6 JOURNEY TO LADAKH. [PART I.
2 half a gourd, a little quicksilver, some pieces
3 of skin, and scales and weights. The trough
4 is four feet long, eighteen inches hroad, and
5 as many deep, with a hole near the bottom at
6 one extremity. It is placed on the river
7 edge, with the end in which the hole is,
8 somewhat depressed. The sieve is formed of
9 straight pieces of split bamboo, laid side by
10 side, and is laid across the trough. One of
11 the two persons employed in the operation
12 spreads a trayful of sand upon the sieve, and
13 the other, turning up its edge so as to pre-
14 vent any of the sand from being carried off,
15 pours upon it a gourd full of water. This he
16 repeats until the water having the finer parti-
17 cles of the sand in suspension, filters through
18 the interstices of the sieve, and leaves the
19 stones and pebbles and coarser substances on
20 the surface. As a sufficient quantity of these
21 washings accumulates in the bottom of the
22 trough, the water drains off through the hole
23 in its lower extremity, and the mud which is
24 left is then again washed for the gold. For
25 this purpose it is taken up in the wooden
26 trays and fresh water poured upon it: the
27 trays are then turned round by the hand, and
28 Digitized by
29 Google