30 BOOK II. 



value, sell them, on which account they seldom obtain even moderate wealth. 

 There are some people who wash over the dumps from exhausted and 

 abandoned mines, and those dumps which are derived from the drains of 

 tunnels ; and others who smelt the old slags ; from all of which they make an 

 ample return. 



Now a miner, before he begins to mine the veins, must consider seven 

 things, namely : — the situation, the conditions, the water, the roads, the 

 climate, the right of ownership, and the neighbours. There are four kinds 

 of situations — mountain, hill, valley, and plain. Of these four, the 

 first two are the most easily mined, because in them tunnels can be 

 driven to drain off the water, which often makes mining operations very 

 laborious, if it does not stop them altogether. The last two kinds of 

 ground are more troublesome, especially because tunnels cannot be driven 

 in such places. Nevertheless, a prudent miner considers all these four 

 sorts of localities in the region in which he happens to be, and he searches for 

 veins in those places where some torrent or other agency has removed and 

 swept the soil away ; yet he need not prospect everywhere, but since there 

 is a great variety, both in mountains and in the three other kinds of 

 localities, he always selects from them those which will give him the best 

 chance of obtaining wealth. 



In the first place, mountains differ greatly in position, some being 

 situated in even and level plains, while others are found in broken and 

 elevated regions, and others again seem to be piled up, one mountain upon 

 another. The wise miner does not mine in mountains which are situated on 

 open plains, neither does he dig in those which are placed on the summits of 

 mountainous regions, unless by some chance the veins in those mountains 

 have been denuded of their surface covering, and abounding in metals and 

 other products, are exposed plainly to his notice, — for with regard to what 

 I have already said more than once, and though I never repeat it again, 

 I wish to emphasize this exception as to the localities which should 

 not be selected. All districts do not possess a great number of mountains 

 crowded together ; some have but one, others two, others three, or perhaps 

 a few more. In some places there are plains lying between them ; in others 

 the mountains are joined together or separated only by narrow valleys. 

 The miner should not dig in those solitary mountains, dispersed through 

 the plains and open regions, but only in those which are connected and 

 joined with others. Then again, since mountains differ in size, some being 

 very large, others of medium height, and others more hke hills than 

 mountains, the miner rarely digs in the largest or the smallest of them, 

 but generally only in those of medium size. Moreover, mountains have a 

 great variety of shapes ; for with some the slopes rise gradually, while 

 others, on the contrary, are all precipitous ; in some others the slopes are 

 gradual on one side, and on the other sides precipitous ; some are drawn 

 out in length ; some are gently curved ; others assume different 

 shapes. But the miner may dig in all parts of them, except where there 

 are precipices, and he should not neglect even these latter if metaUic veins 



