88 



sought — how well the mining operations were carried on by the 

 ' old men/ appears from the notice of the Carthaginian mines in 

 Spain, the pits and levels driven by Hannibal being mention- 

 ed as in wonderful preservation by Pliny. The same may 

 be said of at least one set of mining works of Roman date, in 

 the extreme parts of South Wales, viz. the Gogofau near Lam- 

 peter, where gold was extracted with much labour from broken 

 and pounded quartz, of which enormous mounds remain. 

 The adit still exists, and was lately entered by Sir H. T. De la 

 Beche, who found in it a specimen of native gold. In the 

 vicinity, tradition indicates a Roman settlement ; and a massive 

 chain of gold and other remains were found, and are now pos- 

 sessed by the family of Johnes of Abercothi.* 



The districts in Britain, where lead veins coming to the sur- 

 face in abundance might justify the praises of Pliny, are, in 

 the south, Mendip ; in the west, Flintshire, &c. ; in the North, 

 Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and Cumberland, that is to say the 

 Brigantian Territory ; and it is to this last district that the 

 descriptions apply most correctly. Lead cast in Roman moulds, 

 ' pigs' in fact of the age of Hadrian and other Emperors, have 

 been found in Flintshire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and some 

 other counties. But few antient mining instruments have ever 

 been found in the lead bearing districts of Britain,! and I am 

 strongly of opinion that much of the lead ore was collected from 

 the surface by aid of water, artificially directed. The process, 

 in fact, is described by Pliny, in terms so exactly applicable to 

 the modern ' hushes' of Swaledale, that no doubt can remain of 

 this custom, which is now esteemed rude and semi-barbarous, 

 being of Roman or earlier date in Britain. 



As thus from Roman or earlier times our lead mining 

 derives its * hush,' its levels, and shafts, implements for wash- 

 ing and other processes of the workmen, and the forms, weights, 

 and marks of its melted metal, we may easily admit a similar 

 origin for the melting processes. Lead mostly occurs in the 

 sulphuret, which offers no particular difficulty in the fire. By 



• See Sir E. I. Murchison's Remarks on Gogofau, Sil. Syst. p. 367, 368. 

 + Sir R. I. Murchison mentions Roman mining utensils at Shelve in Shropshire, 

 Sil. Syst. p. 279. 



