332 



BOOK VIII. 



Some people, in place of a green cloth, use a cloth of tightly woven 

 horsehair, which has a rough knotty surface. Since these knots stand out 



A — Cloth full of small knots, spread out. B — Small knots more conspicuously 

 SHOWN. C — Tub in which cloth is washed. 



and the cloth is rough, even the very small particles of gold adhere to it ; 

 these cloths are likewise washed in a tub with water. 



stream carries mud with it. This kind of earth is called urium, hence these ditches are 



laid out to carry the water over beds of pebbles to avoid this urium. When they have 



reached the head of the fall, at the top of the mountain, reservoirs are excavated a couple 



of hundred feet long and wide, and about ten feet deep. In these reservoirs there are 



generally five gates left, about three feet square, so that when the reservoir is full, the gates 



are opened, and the torrent bursts forth with such violence that the rocks are hurled along. 



When they have reached the plain there is yet more labour. Trenches called agogae are 



dug for the flow of the water. The bottoms of these are spread at regular intervals with ulex 



' to catch the gold. This ulex is similar to rosemary, rough and prickly. The sides, too, 



' are closed in with planks and are suspended when crossing precipitous spots. The earth 



' is carried to the sea and thus the shattered mountain is washed away and scattered ; and 



' this deposition of the earth in the sea has extended the shore of Spain. . . . The gold 



' procured from arrugiae does not require to be melted, but is already pure gold. It is found 



' in lumps, in shafts as well, sometimes even exceeding ten librae in weight. These lumps 



' are called palagae and palacurnae, while the small grains are called baluce. The Ulex is 



' dried and burnt and the ashes are washed on a bed of grassy turf in order that the gold 



may settle thereon." 



