Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-09-16

achievement. All such treasures at the mu-
scum. though apparently protected by glass.
are in reality connected with u system or
| burglar alarms, SO that nobody could touch
| a single article without rousing the whole
| building. once a year all OF them are
| cleaned. though their brightness is but lit
tie dimmed, the cases being alright. There
| are ever SO many golden valuables beside
| those mentioned, such as the big chunk of
| gold In the form Of shoes most commonly,
| which serve for coins in China, and Japanese
| gold coins AS large as tea plates, and bear
| ing curious hieroglyphics
Considerable quantities of gold beaters
! film are used at the government printing
| office for titles and ornamental designs on
| the covers Of certain public documents
| such as the published obituaries Of Con-
| gressmen. This work Is done by a young
| girl. who Is held responsible for all scraps
sometimes she has as much as $S,UOU worth
| Of gold dust in her table drawer. 1t is vir-
gin metal. twenty-four karats fine. She
| gives a final polish to the gliding by rub
bling it with burnt india rubber. The pieces
| OF rubber employed for this purpose absorb
a good deal of gold. and eventually they are
sent to the assay office to be assayed. For
the gilt lettering on most of the books is
sued by Uncle Sam a cheap substitute called
German metal is utilized.
| At the National Museum Is exhibited a
ever found. 1t is cast, but. being gilded
1t looks just like the original. Tine latter
was dug up at the mines of Ballarat, Aus
tralia The proprietors of a hole had
| d
| digging with a pick axe. Suddenly the
pick struck something. The workman dug
| around II to see what 1t was, and then he
tainted. Presently the owners returned
and. seeing the man lying in the hole, they
| thought he was dead. One of them jumped
| In, turned hlm over to see what was the
matter with him, and then he tainted also.
Both OF them were dragged out, and i'm
mediately digging was wildly begun for the
nugget, which lay partly exposed. The mass
was so great that at first they supposed
that they had come upon a reef OF pure
sold. When they got II out ii weighed $50
pounds and few ounces. Its value was
~ OOO Being sent to England, it was ex-
hibted there for time ana was finally melt
ed and turned into sovereigns
That was solid and substantial reality.
! What imagination will do where gold is
concerned Is illustrated by the story of a
certain volcanic island in the Indian ocean,
the sand along the shore of which is filled
with gold-colored crystals of chrysolite of
| gold stone" These crystals glitter bright
| ly in the sun, and about a century ago a
| crazy trenchman, struck with the brillancy
| of the pebbles, supposed that he had hit
upon riches compared to which the wealth
OF Omus and of Ind was as nothing. He
collected quantities of the crystals heated
them in a crucible and fancied that he pro-
duced lngots from them. His delusion was
quite harmless. But only few years ago
| a lot OF chrysoiite- bearing sand from the
| same island was shipped to France and
| made great sensation. Great numbers of
people went wild about it, and companies
were organized to begin mining operations
along the strand of the golden isle 1t was
declared that the supplies Of precious metal
| to be obtained from that source were mex
| haustible. Much money was spent in the
! wildcat enterprise, which even to this day
has not been wholly abandoned.
| 1t is true that the sand of all beaches
does contain certain amount of gold.
though ordinarily the quantity is not suffi-
| GENTLY great to pay for separating 1t. How
ever, certain sands near the mouths of
| Oregon
precious metal that attempts have been
| made to mine them. The streams have
brought 1t down and deposited 1t in con-
dition of unusual purity, though finely di-
| vided. Unfortunately, il is only found
deep down near the bed of the rock, and as
| fast as the worthless superintendent ma
terial Is taken away IT is washed back
again and covers up the wealth beneath.
There Is so much gold In sea water that a
| single bucketful of 1t reveals yellow trace
on analysis. Every ton of water in the
ocean contains about one grain of the metal.
That amount of gold is enough to gild fifty
six square inches of surface or IT may be
drawn out into 800 feet of wire. Thus IT
appears that there is plenty of the shining
standard of value in the world, the only
difficulty being to separate 1t economically
from the other elements with which it is
found combined.
| Probably gold was the first metal known
to the ancients. 1t abounded in the sands
of many rivers of antiquity which have long
ceased to be aurferous. From the read-
ness with which it was to be got in those
| early times one may imagine how such
prodigious quantities OF II were collected
| as are spoken of by authors who describe
the wealth of Solomon, the statues tablets
| and vessels of gold dedicated by Semiramis,
and the riches of Croesus. Roman conquer
| ors fetched gold home with them literally
by wagon loads. These great Accommodations
were usually the result of conquests. So 1t
| was with the enormous treasures gathered
| at Babylon under Semiramis; at Jerusalem
under Solomon: at Sardis under Croesus;
| again at Babylon under Darius: at Alex
andria under Alexander, and efterward at
| Rome while she was al the summit of her
power. The first historical mention of gold
! is in the Bible where Abraham is described
as being very rich in cattle, silver and
| gold 1t is an odd fact that gold was used
| at Rome early as 500 b. c. for the pur-
pose of securing artificial teeth In their
| places. Cloth, also. was made OF 1t at the
| same period, without admixture with other
materials.
| A curious popular belief among the Next
cans relates to the so-called gold snake. 1t
is green In color, with yellow iridescence
| in It's scales. Wherever 1t makes its nest
| there is sure to be a ledge containing the
precious metal. and many miners will locate
| claim at once IL they chance upon a
| serpent of this species. People who dig for
| metals are full OF superstitions. Mines are
| always haunted by demons and hobgOblins,
| some of them malicious and others benevo-
| lent. Nickel and Kobold are the names of
| two gnomes who infest underground work.
ings in Germany. From them are derived
| the words nickel and cobalt"
| The story of the famous treasure of the
Madre d'Oro is told by Dan de guile in his
| book on the ''Comstock Lode 1t is derived
| from the Aztecs of Mexico. Somewhere in
| southeast Arizona is a small valley, about
| five miles long by two miles wide, walled in
| by towering mountains. The sides are SO
| precpitous that II Is impossible to climb
| down them, and there Is only one entrance,
| through the cave, which is carefully hidden
| by Indians who guard the treasure for the
! second coming of Montezuna. The valley
| itself. though surrounded by iuhospitable
| rocks, is a paradise. Watered by stream
| which flows through it. its soil Is covered
| with flowers and beautiful trees. through
| the branches Of which fit bright -hued birds
| Stretching across the valley from one side
| to the other Is a ledge of gold. its masses Of
| virgin metal cleaning and glistening in the
| sunlight. The gold lies in II in great veins
! and nuggets embedded in clear quartz the
sharp angles of which glitter i'm the suns
| rays like gigantic diamonds. Across the
ledge the stream flows forming a little
! waterfall, below which the nuggets of gold
i can be seen in the water and out. Gold in
| the ledge. geld in the scales of the snakes.
| gold in the stream, gold In the birds. gold.
! gold, gold, gold, is the refrain of the golden
| story.
One hears a great deal lately of silver in
| India. That metal is used exclusively for
money of that country. If gold were coined.
the people would board it and it would have