Davy's opinions, they actually
discovered gold!
The quantity was small, but the men were very sanguine of
success, and were making their preparations for working on a more
extensive scale, when they were all prostrated by jungle fever -
a guardian-spirit of the gold at Amberpuss?, which will ever
effectually protect it from Europeans.
They all returned to Colombo, and, when convalescent, they
proceeded to Newera Ellia, naturally concluding that the gold
which existed in dust in the rivers below must be washed down
from the richer stores of the mountains.
Their first discovery of gold at Newera Ellia was on the 14th
June, 1854, on the second day of their search in that locality.
The first gold was found in the "Vale of Rubies."
I had advised them to make their first search in that spot for
this reason: that, as the precious stones had there settled in
the largest numbers, from their superior gravity, it was natural
to conclude that, if gold should exist, it would, from its
gravity, be somewhere below the precious stones or in their
vicinity.
>From the facility with which it has been discovered, it is
impossible to form an opinion as to the quantity or the extent to
which it will eventually be developed.
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