rms a mud which runs out while clean water runs in. The light sand
flows out with the thin mud, while the lumps of tough clay and the
large stones remain. The stones collect on the top of the clay, and
they are scraped together with the fingers and thrown out. This process
continues, the pan being gradually raised in the water, and its outer
edge depressed, until all the earthy matter has been dissolved, and
that as well as the stones swept away by the water, while the gold
remains at the bottom. Panning is not difficult, but it requires
practice to learn the degree of shaking, which dissolves the dirt and
throws out the stones most rapidly without losing the gold. If the
shaking be too mild and slow, the process consumes too much time;
whereas if it be too rapid and violent, the gold is carried off with
the stones. Sometimes the pan is shaken so that the dirt receives a
rotary motion. This is the most rapid method of washing dirt, but also
the most dangerous. The pan must always be used in cleaning up the dirt
which collects in the cradle, in prospecting, and frequently in washing
small quantities of dirt collected in other kinds of placer mining.
Amalgam can be separated from dirt by washing, almost as well as gold.
In panning out, it frequently happens that considerable amounts of
black sand containing fine particles of gold are obtained, and this
sand is so heavy that it cannot be separated from the gold by washing,
while it is easily separated by that process from gravel, stones and
common dirt. The black sand is dried, and a small quantity of it is
placed in a "blower," a shallow tin dish open at one end. The miner
then holding the pan with the open end from him, blows out the sand,
leaving the particles of gold. He must blow gently, just strong enough
to blow out the sand, and no stronger. From time to time he must shake
the blower so as to change the position of the particles, and bring all
the sand in the range of his breath. The gold cannot be cleaned
perfectly in this manner, but the sand contains iron, and the little of
it remaining is easily removed by a magnet. The blower should be very
smooth, and made of either tin, brass or copper.

_Dry Washing._--Dry washing is a method of winnowing gold from dirt. In
many parts of the mining districts of California, water cannot be
obtained during the summer for mining purposes. The miner therefore
manages to wash his dirt without water. He takes only rich dirt, and