BOOK IX. 



375 



crushed to powder, is removed through the open part below ; the stamps are 

 not shod with iron, but are made entirely of wood, although at the lower 

 part they are bound round at the wide part by an iron band. 



The powder into which the charcoal is crushed is thrown on to a sieve 

 whose bottom consists of interwoven withes of wood. The sieve is drawn 

 backward and forward over two wooden or iron rods placed in a triangular 

 position on a tub, or over a bench-frame set on the floor of the building ; 

 the powder which falls into the tub or on to the floor is of suitable size, 

 but the pieces of small charcoal which remain hi the sieve are emptied out 

 and thrown back under the stamps. 



When the earth is dug up it is first exposed to the sun that it may dry. 

 Later on it is thrown with a shovel on to a screen set up obliquely and 

 supported by poles, made of thick, loosely woven hazel withes, and in this 

 way the fine earth and its small lumps pass through the holes of the screen, but 

 the clods and stones do not pass through, but run down to the ground. The 

 earth which passes through the screen is conveyed in a two-wheeled cart to 

 the works and there sifted. This sieve, which is not dissimilar to the one 



A SCREEN. B POLES. C SHOVEL. D TWO-WHEELED CART. E HAND-SIEVE. 

 F NARROW BOARDS. G Box. H COVERED PIT. 



