We must not omit to mention the occupation of gold-washing, by which thousands of Gypsies,
of both sexes, in the Banat, Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia, procure a livelihood in summer; who, in winter, make trays and troughs, which they sell in an honest way.
It is not permitted for every one, without exception, to be a gold-washer; such only can follow the employment as have permission from the office of Mons, where a College was established by the Empress Theresa, in 1748. In the seventh article of instructions granted, the Gypsies were allowed the privilege of washing for gold, for which each person pays a tribute to Government.
The gold-washers in Transylvania and the Banat, pay four guilders annually in gold dust. The tribute collected in Wallachia and Moldavia does not go into the public treasury, but belongs to the Princesses for pin-money.
The consort of the Wallachian Hospodar, Stephen Rakowitza, in the year 1764, received from her Rudars, being two hundred and forty in number, twelve hundred and fifty-four drachms. The gold-washers in the Banat and Transylvania, dispose of their shares at the
Royal Redemption-Office, in Zalatuya. The earnings of these people vary with time, and at different places; during heavy rains and floods they are usually most successful. The Transylvanian rivers yield the most gold. It is said, all the rivers and brooks which the rain forms, produce gold; of these the river Aranyasch is the richest; insomuch, that Historians have compared it to the Tagus and Pactolus.
Grellmann.
In Travels through the Banat of Temeswar, Transylvania, and Hungary, in the year 1770, described in a series of letters to Professor Ferber, on the mines and mountains of these different countries, by Baron Inigo Born, Counsellor of the Royal Mines, in Bohemia, page 76, is the following account:
“Observations on the Gold-washings, in the Banat, by Counsellor Koezian. Translated by R. E. Ruspe.
“After the several natural advantages of the Temeswar Banat, some of its rivers are known to yield gold dust; I could not neglect the object when I travelled in these parts.