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INDIA

In almost any part of India, excepting the northwest
 frontier, where (as already explained) there are no
channels of communication leading up to crystalline rocks
and deposits from which gold may be derived, the gold
industry still continues on the old, old lines of prehistoric
days. In the Godavari jungles I have watched a patient
family of gold-washers (aboriginal Gonds) sitting contentedly
 by the banks of a small local stream, scraping
up the sand into their shallow wooden pans, and performing
 the apparently simple process of swishing the
water round with a circular motion till all the light
particles had disappeared,
 and nothing
but a sediment of
black “iron sand”
remained. No mercurial
 process was
resorted to in order
to capture the infinitesimally
 small particles
 of gold which
existed in the sediment.
 The sand was
examined, and if the
examination proved
satisfactory washing was resumed, until finally a small
(ridiculously small) pinch of free gold particles remained.
The net result of the day's “take” when the family of
four had finished their work might, when spread out very
thin, have covered a four anna bit ; and it was valued
(probably over valued) at eight annas, or, say, one shilling,
But this was enough, and no persuasion would have induced
 these native vagabonds to work longer than was
necessary to secure this amount of return. They wanted
little. Their clothes were few and simple (in fact, two
of the four individuals possessed none), and their food
was probably found in the jungle. A shilling a day
would find all the rest of their requirements, and to work
when work was unnecessary was not in their creed.