BOOK VIII. 339 



with an iron shovel and agitated hither and thither in the water, until the 

 sand flows away and only the tin-stone remains on the shovel. The tin- 

 stone is all collected together and washed again in a trough by pushing it 

 up and turning it over with a wooden trowel, in order that the remaining 

 sand may separate from it. Afterward they return to their task, which they 

 continue until the metalliferous material is exhausted, or until the water can 

 no longer be diverted into the ditches. 



The trough which I mentioned is hewn out of the trunk of a tree and the 

 interior is five feet long, three-quarters of a foot deep, and six digits wide. 

 It is placed on an incline and under it is put a tub which contains interwoven 

 fir twigs, or else another trough is put under it, the interior of which is three 

 feet long and one foot wide and deep ; the fine tin-stone, which has run out 

 with the water, settles in the bottom. Some people, in place of a trough, 

 put a square launder underneath, and in like manner they wash the tin- 

 stone in this by agitating it up and down and turning it over with a small 

 wooden trowel. A transverse trough is put under the launder, which is 

 either open on one end and drains off into a tub or settling-pit, or else is 

 closed and perforated through the bottom ; in this case, it drains into a 

 ditch beneath, where the water falls when the plug has been partly removed. 

 The nature of this ditch I will now describe. 



If the locality does not supply an abundance of water, the washers dig a 

 ditch thirty or thirty-six feet long, and cover the bottom, the full length, with 

 logs joined together and hewn on the side which lies flat on the ground. On 

 each side of the ditch, and at its head also, they place four logs, one above 

 the other, all hewn smooth on the inside. But since the logs are laid 

 obliquely along the sides, the upper end of the ditch is made four feet wide 

 and the tail end, two feet. The water has a high drop from a launder and 

 first of all it falls into interlaced fir twigs, in order that it shall fall straight 

 down for the most part in an unbroken stream and thus break up the lumps 

 by its weight. Some do not place these twigs under the end of the launder, 

 but put a plug in its mouth, which, since it does not entirely close the launder, 

 nor altogether prevent the discharge from it, nor yet allow the water to 

 spout far afield, makes it drop straight down. The workman brings in a 

 wheelbarrow the material to be washed, and throws it into the ditch. The 

 washer standing in the upper end of the ditch breaks the lumps with a seven- 

 Dronged fork, and throws out the roots of trees, shrubs, and grass with the 

 same instrument, and thereby the small black stones settle down. When a 

 large quantity of the tin-stone has accumulated, which generally happens 

 when the washer has spent a day at this work, to prevent it from being 

 washed away he places it upon the bank, and other material having been 

 again thrown into the upper end of the ditch, he continues the task of washing. 

 A boy stands at the lower end of the ditch, and with a thin pointed hoe 

 stirs up the sediment which has settled at the lower end, to prevent the 

 washed tin-stone from being carried further, which occurs when the sediment 

 has accumulated to such an extent that the fir branches at the outlet of the 

 ditch are covered. 



