nugget description - 1697

[BillA]

"in the gold-mines; for besides what gold and sand they take up together, they often find great lumps wedged between the rocks, as if it naturally grew there. I have seen a lump as big as a hen's egg, brought by Captain Harris from thence (who took 120 pound there) and he told me that there were lumps a great deal bigger: but these they were forced to beat in pieces that they might divide them. These lumps are not so solid, but that they have crevices and pores full of earth and dust."

from Dampier A NEW VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD BY WILLIAM DAMPIER (perdidogringo)
a most interesting book