548 BOOK XII. 



mud, although some may be made of stones or bricks. When of brick they 

 are often sixteen feet high, and if the roof rises twenty-four feet high, then 

 the walls which are at the ends must be made forty feet high, as likewise 

 the interior partition walls. The roof consists of large shingles four feet long, 

 one foot wide, and two digits thick ; these are fixed on long narrow planks 

 placed on the rafters, which are joined at the upper end and slope in opposite 

 directions. The whole of the under side is plastered one digit thick with 

 straw mixed with lute ; likewise the roof on the outside is plastered one 

 and a half feet thick with straw mixed with lute, in order that the shed 

 should not run any risk of fire, and that it should be proof against rain, and 

 be able to retain the heat necessary for drying the lumps of salt. Each shed 

 is divided into three parts, in the first of which the firewood and straw are 

 placed ; in the middle room, separated from the first room by a partition, is 

 the fireplace on which is placed the caldron. To the right of the caldron is 

 a tub, into which is emptied the brine brought into the shed by the porters ; 

 to the left is a bench, on which there is room to lay thirty pieces of salt. 

 In the third room, which is in the back part of the house, there is made a pile 

 of clay or ashes eight feet higher than the floor, being the same height as the 

 bench. The master and his assistants, when they carry away the lumps of 

 salt from the caldrons, go from the former to the latter. They ascend from 

 the right side of the caldron, not by steps, but by a slope of earth. At the 

 top of the end wall are two small windows, and a third is in the roof, through 

 which the smoke escapes. This smoke, emitted from both the back and the 

 front of the furnace, finds outlet through a hood through which it makes 

 its way up to the windows ; this hood consists of boards projecting one 

 beyond the other, which are supported by two small beams of the roof. 

 Opposite the fireplace the middle partition has an open door eight feet high 

 and four feet wide, through which there is a gentle draught which drives the 

 smoke into the last room ; the front wall also has a door of the same height 

 and width. Both of these doors are large enough to permit the firewood or 

 straw or the brine to be carried in, and the lumps of salt to be carried out ; 

 these doors must be closed when the wind blows, so that the boiling will 

 not be hindered. Indeed, glass panes which exclude the wind but transmit the 

 hght, should be inserted in the windows in the walls. 



They construct the greater part of the fireplace of rock-salt and of clay 

 mixed with salt and moistened with brine, for such walls are greatly 

 hardened by the fire. These fireplaces are made eight and a half feet long, 

 seven and three quarters feet wide, and, if wood is burned in them, nearly 

 four feet high ; but if straw is burned in them, they are six feet high. An 

 iron rod, about four feet long, is engaged in a hole in an iron foot, which 

 stands on the base of the middle of the furnace mouth. This mouth is three 

 feet in width, and has a door which opens inward ; through it they throw 

 in the straw. 



The caldrons are rectangular, eight feet long, seven feet wide, and half a 

 foot high, and are made of sheets of iron or lead, three feet long and of the 

 same width, all but two digits. These plates are not very thick, so that the 



