BOOK VIII. 325 



cling to the coverings. Pockets are made in various ways, either with iron 

 wire or small cross-boards fixed to the frame, or by holes which are sunk 

 into the sluice itself or into its head, but which do not quite go through. 

 These holes are round or square, or are grooves running crosswise. The 

 frames are either covered with skins, pieces of cloth, or turf, which I will 

 deal with one by one in turn. 



In order to prevent the sand which contains the particles of gold from 

 spilhng out, the washer fixes side-boards to the edges of a plank which is six 

 feet long and one and a quarter wide. He then lays crosswise many iron 

 wires a digit apart, and where they join he fixes them to the bottom plank 

 with iron nails. Then he makes the head of the frame higher, and into this 

 he throws the sand which needs washing, and taking in his hands the handles 

 which are at the head of the frame, he draws it backward and forward 

 several times in the river or stream. In this way the small stones and gravel 

 flow down along the frame, and the sand mixed with particles of gold remains 

 in the pockets between the strips. When the contents of the pockets have 

 been shaken out and collected in one place, he washes them in a bowl and 

 thus cleans the gold dust. 



Other people, among whom are the Lusitanians^^, fix to the sides of a 

 sluice, which is about six feet long and a foot and a half broad, many cross- 

 strips or riffles, which project backward and are a digit apart. The washer 

 or his wife lets the water into the head of the sluice, where he throws the sand 

 which contains the particles of gold. As it flows down he agitates it with a 

 wooden scrubber, which he moves transversely to the riffles. He constantly 

 removes with a pointed wooden stick the sediment which settles in the pockets 

 between the riffles, and in this way the particles of gold settle in them, 

 while the sand and other valueless materials are carried by the water into a 

 tub placed below the sluice. He removes the particles of metal with a smaU 

 wooden shovel into a wooden bowl. This bowl does not exceed a foot and a 

 quarter in breadth, and by moving it up and down in the stream he cleanses 

 the gold dust, for the remaining sand flows out of the dish, and the gold dust 

 settles in the middle of it, where there is a cup-Hke depression. Some make 

 use of a bowl which is grooved inside hke a sheU, but with a smooth Up where 

 the water flows out. This smooth place, however, is narrower where the 

 grooves run into it, and broader where the water flows out. 



^•Ancient Lusitania comprised Portugal and some neighbouring portions of Spain. 



