in Brigantia and other parts of Britain. 259 



and its silver removed ; the silver indeed being often the object 

 of the enterprise. How earnestly silver was sought — how well 

 the mining operations were carried on by the ' old men' — appears 

 from the notice of the Carthaginian mines in Spain, the pits and 

 levels driven by Hannibal being mentioned as in wonderful pres- 

 ervation by Pliny. The same may be said of at least one set of 

 mining works of Roman date, in the extreme parts of South 

 Wales, viz., the Gogofau near Lampeter, where gold was extract- 

 ed with much labor from broken and pounded quartz, of which 

 enormous mounds remain. The adit still exists, and was lately 

 entered by Sir H. T. De la Beche, who found in it a specimen of 

 native gold. In the vicinity, tradition indicates a Roman settle- 

 ment ; and a massive chain of gold and other remains were found, 

 and are now possessed by the family of Johnes of Abereothi.* 



The districts in Britain, where lead veins coming to the sur- 

 face in abundance might justify the praises of Pliny, are, in the 

 south, Mendip ; in the west, Flintshire, &c. ; in the north, Derby- 

 shire, Yorkshire and Cumberland, that is to say, the Brigantian 

 territory: and it is to this last district that the descriptions apply 

 most correctly. Lead cast in Roman moulds, pigs, in fact, of the 

 age of Hadrian and other emperors, have been found in Flintshire, 

 Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and some other counties. But few an- 

 cient mining instruments have ever been found in the lead-bear- 

 ing districts of Britain :f and I am strongly of opinion that much 

 of the lead ore was collected from the surface by aid of water, 

 artificially directed. The process, in fact, is described by Pliny 

 in terms so exactly applicable to the modern ' hushes' of Swale- 

 dale, that no doubt can remain of this custom, which is now 

 esteemed rude and semi-barbarous, being of Roman or earlier 

 date in Britain. 



As thus from Roman or earlier times our lead-mining derives 

 its < hush,' its levels, and shafts, implements for washing, and other 

 processes of the workmen, and the forms, weights, and marks of 

 its melted metal, we may easily admit a similar origin for the 

 melting process. Lead mostly occurs in the sulphuret, which 

 offers no particular difficulty in the fire. ' By cautious roasting, 

 its excess of sulphur may be removed, and the subsequent melt- 

 ing with charcoal, or a flux, be facilitated. Indeed without 

 roasting, and without flux in many cases, the lead will flow out 

 of the ore, if placed among flaming wood or peat, and subjected 

 to a sufficient stream of air. 



But the use of fluxes could not long remain unknown in the 

 limestone districts of Northumbna, or amid the fluoric veins of 



t gee Sir R. L Murchison's remarks on Gogofau (SO. Syst, IK 36 i , ->68) 



t Sir R. i. Murehhon meatioas Roman mirittg utawib at bhelve m fehropshire 

 (Sd. Sygt, p. 279). 



