radle.

The Chinamen get their gold in a very rude way, though it seems to
answer their purpose. They put the stuff to be washed on to their
cradle, and by scooping water over it and keeping the cradle going
they gradually rinse it away, the fluid running over two or three
ledges of blankets, and leaving the fine gold remaining behind
adhering to the wool. After the process has been continued
sufficiently long, the gold-dust is collected from the blankets, and
is retorted by the Chinamen themselves, and then they bring it for
sale. The retorting has usually been badly done, and there remains a
good deal of quicksilver and nitric acid adhering to the gold. The
only way of dealing with it is to put the whole into a crucible, then
make it red hot, and keep the gold at the melting-point for five or
ten minutes.

As we have got no furnace of our own on the premises, I have
frequently to march up the street to the blacksmith's shop, to put
John Chinaman's gold to the test. If John is allowed to go by himself,
he merely waits till the gold gets warm, takes it out again, and
brings it back, saying, "All light; welly good, welly good gole; no
gammon." But you should see John when I go up to the blacksmith's
myself, put the crucible into the hottest part of the fire, and begin
to blow the bellows! When the gold begins to glow with heat, and he
knows the weight is diminishing by the quicksilver and dirt that are
flying off, he cries, "Welly hot! too muchee fire; me losem too muchee
money!" But the thing must be done, and John must take the choice of
his dirty gold or the regular price for it when cleaned. I have known
it lose, by this process of purifying, as much as from five to six
pennyweights in the ounce.

Sometimes he will bring only a few shillings' worth, and, when the
money is tendered for it, he will turn it over in his hand, like a
London cabman when his regular fare is given him. One man, who almost
invariably brought only a very small quantity, would begin his
conversation with, "No more money now--no more chow-chow (dinner)--no
more opium!" Sometimes matters come to a climax, and he tells us that
we "too much lie and cheatem;" on which we send him out at the door.

The lower orders of Chinamen are almost invariably suspicious that
Englishmen cheat them, although some of them are very decent fellows,
and, indeed, kind and even polite. Several times I have asked them how
they were going to spend the money for whic