CHAPTER IX
GOLD RECOVERY
There has always been something very fascinating about gold. Even in ancient times it was prized above all other things, and apparently it was comparatively plentiful. It is estimated, for example, that King Solomon possessed over £4,000,000 worth of it, while the little gift which the Queen of Sheba brought him was of the handsome value of £600,000, so that she too must have been plentifully supplied with it.
Probably it was more easily come by in those days, owing to the richness of the primitive deposits, the best of which, perchance, have been worked out. In one respect gold differs from all other metals (with the single exception of platinum, which is scarcer still) in that it appears naturally as gold, not as ore. The little pieces of gold lie in the mine ready to be picked out, and so if the deposit in which it occurs be near the surface, and the particles be of any considerable size, they are sure to be found. A savage may be, and often is, very anxious to secure weapons and tools of iron, little knowing that the very ground upon which he stands is possibly of iron ore. He covets the single article of iron, and in some cases is willing to give much gold for it, or ivory, or some such treasure, while thousands or millions of tons of iron lie at his feet, only he does not recognise it, nor would he know how to utilise it if he did.
For iron, like all other metals except the two just referred to, is found naturally in combination with something else, generally oxygen, and the combination bears no resemblance at all to the metal. The red rust so familiar to us on iron is a combination of iron and oxygen, and it is fairly typical of the kind of state in which iron is found in the earth. Nor would anyone recognise copper ore, lead ore, tin ore, or any of the ores, any better than iron ore. All are difficult to recognise. It is said that the highest compliment that a Cornish miner—the finest metalliferous miners in the world come from Cornwall, or are the product of Cornish influence—the highest compliment that such a man can pay to another is to say that "he knows tin," meaning that he can tell tin ore when he sees it.
Contrasted with these other metals, gold is easy to find. It does, it is true, under certain conditions, form chemical compounds with other things, as, for instance, in gold chloride, which is present in sea-water, but it does not oxidise as the others do, and so when it is in the earth it is in the bright yellow grains such as (if they be large enough) can easily be recognised at sight.
And it is often found in beds of loose gravel, alluvial deposits, as they are termed. In such cases the gold is to be had simply for the picking up. Sometimes a lucky find occurs in the form of a big nugget, but more often the metal lies in tiny grains at long distances apart, so that a ton of gravel has to be sorted over to find a paltry ounce or so of gold. Yet so desired is it that gold will always fetch its price, and an ounce to the ton (even less) is sometimes worth getting.
But in the early history of the world there were possibly particularly generous deposits with plenty of gold in good-sized pieces, and such would be quickly discovered and worked by primitive man. No doubt the chieftains of those days took much, if not all, of the gold that their people found, and more powerful chiefs and kings would, in turn, either by force or in trade, take it from the weaker, so that it is not surprising to learn that some of the mighty kings and potentates of long ago were well supplied with gold.
Yet there are few things more useless. Its value in the first instance was probably entirely due to its beautiful colour, and the fact that it does not easily tarnish. For this reason, coupled with the fact that it was by no means plentiful, men liked to deck themselves with it, not only adding to their "beauty" by so doing, but advertising to their fellows the fact that they were men of wealth, men who possessed what few others had, or at all events possessed it more abundantly. These three basic facts about gold, its beauty, its freedom from deterioration and its comparative scarcity, give it its peculiar status among the commodities of commerce, in that for it, and for it alone, there is a continuous and universal demand. No gold-mining company ever shut down its properties because of the falling off in the demand for gold. No one ever had to hawk gold about to find a purchaser; it is always saleable.