332 BOOK VIII. 



Some people, in place of a green cloth, use a cloth of tightly woven 

 horsehair, which has a rough knotty surface. Since these knots stand out 



A — Cloth full of small knots, spread out. B — Small knots more conspicuously 

 SHOWN. C — Tub in which cloth is washed. 



and the cloth is rough, even the very small particles of gold adhere to it ; 

 these cloths are likewise washed in a tub with water. 



" stream carries mud with it. This kind of earth is called urium, hence these ditches are 

 " laid out to carry the water over beds of pebbles to avoid this urium. When they have 

 " reached the head of the fall, at the top of the mountain, reservoirs are excavated a couple 

 " of hundred feet long and wide, and about ten feet deep. In these reservoirs there are 

 " generally five gates left, about three feet square, so that when the reservoir is full, the gates 

 " are opened, and the torrent bursts forth with such violence that the rocks are hurled along. 

 " When they have reached the plain there is yet more labour. Trenches called agogae are 

 " dug for the flow of the water. The bottoms of these are spread at regular intervals with ulex 

 " to catch the gold. This ulex is similar to rosemary, rough and prickly. The sides, too, 

 " are closed in with planks and are suspended when crossing precipitous spots. The earth 

 " is carried to the sea and thus the shattered mountain is washed away and scattered ; and 

 " this deposition of the earth in the sea has extended the shore of Spain. . . . The gold 

 " procured from arriigiae does not require to be melted, but is already pure gold. It is found 

 " in lumps, in shafts as well, sometimes even exceeding ten librae in weight. These lumps 

 " are called palagae and palacurnae, while the small grains are called baluce. The Ulex is 

 " dried and burnt and the ashes are washed on a bed of grassy turf in order that the gold 

 " may settle thereon." 



