FLUME, a word formerly used for a stream, and particularly for the tail of a mill-race. It is used in America for a very nar row gorge between precipitous rocks, with a stream at the bottom, but more frequently is applied to an artificial channel of wood or other material for the diversion of a stream of water from a river for purposes of irrigation, for running a sawmill, or for various processes in the hydraulic method of gold mining (see AQUEDUCT ).