338 



BOOK VIII. 



time first of aU dig a long ditch sloping so that the water wiU run through 

 it rapidly. Into the ditch is thrown the metallic material, together with the 

 surface material, which is six feet thick, more or less, and often contains moss, 

 roots of plants, shrubs, trees, and earth ; they are all thrown in with a broad 

 mattock, and the water flows through the ditch. The sand and tin-stone, as 

 they are heavy, sink to the bottom of the ditch, while the moss and roots, as 

 they are hght, are carried away by the water which flows through the ditch. 

 The bottom of the ditch is obstructed with turf and stones in order to prevent 

 the water from carrying away the tin-stone at the same time. The washers, 

 whose feet are covered with high boots made of hide, though not of rawhide, 

 themselves stand in the ditch and throw out of it the roots of the trees, 

 shrubs, and grass with seven-pronged wooden forks, and push back the tin- 

 stone toward the head of the ditch. After four weeks, in which they have 

 devoted much work and labour, they raise the tin-stone in the following 

 way ; the sand with which it is mixed is repeatedly hfted from the ditch 



A— Trough. B— Wooden shovel. C~Tub. D— Launder. E— Wooden trowel. 

 F— Transverse trough. G— Plug. H— Falling water. I— Ditch. K— BARROVif 

 conveying material to be washed. L — Pick like the beak of a duck with which 

 the miner digs out the material from which the small stones are obtained. 



