4-318 (Original)

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In countries blessed with abundant rainfall the nuggets can be separated from the dirt by a comparatively simple arrangement of sluices and adles. In the drought-stricken west of Australia other means must be adopted, which I will endeavour to describe.
Having picked and dug out a certain amount of the alluvial ground which, it is hoped, contains nuggets of various sizes, the digger then breaks up any lumps of clay or earth by means of a heavy billet of wood, or like implement, and this prepared dirt, as it is called, he treats in one of the following ways: 
1. By means of two iron dishes, in diameter 15 to 18 inches, and in depth 4 to 5 inches.
One dish is placed empty on the ground, the other, filled with the prepared dirt, is held up at arm's length above the head, with the mouth of the dish turned to the wind; the earth is then allowed to fall gradually into the dish beneath, all light particles and dust being blown away by the wind. Exchange of dishes having been made, the same process is repeated again and again. When there is only a small amount of dust left, the full dish is held in both hands, and given a circular movement, which causes the larger stones or pebbles to come to the surface; these are cleared away with the left hand, and a sharp look out is kept for nuggets or quartz specimens. This is repeated until nothing is left in the dish but a small quantity of dust, ironstone-gravel, and possibly fine gold, or small nuggets. The dish is then held up at an angle, and shaken from side to side until a compact little heap remains, to the bottom of which the gold will have sunk. The next and final operation is to hold the dish up to the mouth nearly horizontally, and blow the little heap across the dish. Any fine gold will then be seen lying on the bottom just under the nose of the operator.
Given a good hot summer's day, flies as numerous as the supply of water is scanty, clouds of dust, little or no breeze, and the same quantity of gold, and a few score of men working within an area of nine or ten acres, one is sometimes tempted to think that gold may be bought too dear. But the very lowest depths of despair, cannot compare with the heights of satisfaction, attained after a successful day's "dry-blowing."
2. By means of two dishes, and a tripod stand and pulley.
A tripod, twelve or fifteen feet high, is set up over a hard and smooth piece of ground. By a rope and a pulley the full dish is hauled up as far as required; the rope is then made fast and a string, fixed to the edge of the dish, is pulled, and the dish tipped up allowing the dirt to fall on to the prepared surface below, where it is swept up and treated as in the first method described. [29] With a fair breeze this is a very effectual way of getting rid of the fine dirt.
3. By means of a sieve.
This method is only suitable when the soil is wet and sticky, or when the nuggets are fairly large and are not too rare.
On the first rush to Kurnalpi, when more alluvial gold was found in a short time than on any other field, sieves were almost the only implements used.
A sieve is very useful for prospecting the surface soil, being more portable and more rapidly worked than the dishes. A combination of these three methods is found in the Dry-Blowing Machine.
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