BOOK VIII.

327

A —Head of the sluice. B —Side-boards. C —Lower end of the sluice.D —Pockets. E —Grooves. F —Stools. G —Shovel. H —Tub set below.

I—Launder.

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Some people cut a number of cross-grooves, one palm distant from eachother, in a sluice similarly composed of three planks eight feet long. Theupper edge of these grooves is sloping, that the particles of gold may slip intothem when the washer stirs the sand with a wooden shovel; but their loweredge is vertical so that the gold particles may thus be unable to slideout of them. As soon as these grooves are full of gold particles mixedwith fine sand, the sluice is removed from the stools and raised up on itshead. The head in this case is nothing but the upper end of the planksof which the sluice is composed. In this way the metallic particles, beingturned over backward, fall into another tub, for the small stones and gravelhave rolled down the sluice. Some people place large bowls under thesluice instead of tubs, and as in the other cases, the unclean concentrates arewashed in the small bowl.

The Thuringians cut rounded pockets, a digit in diameter and depth, inthe head of the sluice, and at the same time they cut grooves reaching fromone to another. The sluice itself they cover with canvas. The sand which