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Alluvial deposits are the easiest to work for the individual prospector. In addition to gem stones, gold, platinum, tinstone, and osmiridium are among the metals of value which are found in such deposits. Very little capital is required to work them. Alluvial drifts, river beds and creeks should be carefully examined. A pick, shovel, a tin dish for panning, and a large knife is necessary. Pits in beaches and gravels along the course of the stream should be dug until the rock is reached, and the material raised should be panned. The heavier stones and material will remain.

The determination of minerals is made by tests or observations which involve the following: crystalline structure, cleavage, luster, color, hardness, streak, malleability, smell, taste, specific gravity, blow-pipe characteristics, dichroism, and refractive index. With gem stones, some of these tests would not apply; indeed, not all of these tests would be practical or necessary for any one stone or metal. In previous chapters, we have dealt with most of these properties of minerals, and an idea of the conclusions reached by these tests will be apparent to the reader.

The chemical test of the blow-pipe, most important with metals, is not so important to the gemologist. The whole subject is, of course, enormous, and a variety of larger and more specialized works which devote themselves to these specific branches of mineralogy may be consulted. Here, we have given just a brief sketch of prospecting and may have possibly whetted, or diminished, the appetite of the reader.

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