d, and it is very good
for saving coarse gold. While dirt that would pay from ten to
twenty-five cents, was abundant at the surface of the earth in the
Californian mines, the cradle was extensively used, but now it has been
abandoned by the whites, and is left to the Chinamen, who think
themselves doing well if they make seventy-five cents or one dollar per
day.

The great difficulty in mining with the cradle is, that the sand will
"pack," or make a hard mass on a level with the top of the riffle-bars,
and the gold then is lost. So long as the cradle is in motion the dirt
does not pack, but when the rocking ceases, the mass hardens in a few
minutes. If the miner leaves his cradle standing for fifteen minutes,
he stirs up the dirt with his spoon before commencing again to wash.
One device to prevent packing is to put a little block under each end
of the rockers, so that at the end of every motion the cradle receives
a shock. Quicksilver is sometimes used in cradles, but not usually.

_Pan._--The pan is used in all branches of gold mining, either as an
instrument for washing, or as a receptacle for gold, amalgam, or rich
dirt. It is made of stiff tin or sheet-iron, with a flat bottom about a
foot across, and with sides six inches high, rising at an angle of
forty-five degrees. A little variation in the size or shape of the pan
will not injure its value for washing. Sheet-iron is preferable to tin,
because it is usually stronger and does not amalgamate with mercury.
The pan is the simplest of all instruments used for washing auriferous
dirt. Some dirt, not enough to fill it full, is put in, and the pan is
then put under water. The water ought to be not more than a foot deep,
so that the pan may rest on the bottom, while the miner inserts his
fingers in and under the dirt and lifts it up a little, so that the
whole mass is wet. If the water be deep, the pan may be held in one
hand while the other is used to stir up the dirt, but it is more
convenient to take both. The dirt having been filled with water, the
miner catches the pan at the sides, raises that part toward his body,
and lowers the outer edge a little, and commences to shake the pan from
side to side, holding it so that all the dirt is under water, and so
that a little of the dirt can escape over the outer edge. The earthy
part of the dirt is rapidly dissolved by the water, assisted by the
shaking of the pan and the rolling of the gravel from side to side, and
fo