BOOK IX. 



419 



exceeds the price of the latter by a gold coin^*. These lattice-like bars are 

 lighter than the others, and when five of them are pounded and amalgamated 

 with a wooden mallet, a mass is made which is stamped with an iron die. 

 There are some who do not make a dipping-pot on the floor for the tin to run 

 into, but in the hearth itself ; out of this the master, having removed the 

 charcoal, ladles the tin and pours it over the copper-plate. The dross which 

 adheres to the wood and the charcoal, having been collected, is re-smelted 

 in the furnace. 



A— Furnace. B— Bellows. C— Iron Disc. D — Nozzle. E — Wooden Disc. 

 F — Blow-hole. G — Handle. H — Haft. I — Hoops. K — Masses of tin. 



Some of the Lusitanians melt tin from tin-stone in small furnaces. They 

 use round bellows made of leather, of which the fore end is a round iron disc 

 and the rear end a disc of wood ; in a hole in the former is fixed the nozzle, 

 in the middle of the latter the blow-hole. Above this is the handle or haft, 

 which draws open the round bellows and lets in the air, or compresses it and 

 drives the air out. Between the discs are several iron hoops to which the 

 leather is fastened, making such folds as are to be seen in paper lanterns that 



^^Aureo nummo. German Translation gives reinschen gulden, which was the equivalent 

 of about $1.66, or 6.9 shillings. The purchasing power of money was, however, several times 

 as great as at present. 



