O'Reilly — Milesian Colonization relative to Gold-mining. 71 



natives as washing the debris of the alluvions in their mde " masoiros." 

 or wooden pans. This word can be derived from, the Celtic " mias '' = 

 a dish, a platter (O'EeiUy), and " or " or " oeV," '' gold " or " golden" ; 

 so that the ^^ masotro^^ of the Astta'ian gold- washer is the ^^ gold 

 panning dish " of his Celtic predecessor. Had the mining captain in 

 question made more careful inquiries as to the terms employed by the 

 washers for their tools and operations, he would probably have been 

 able to collect some, if not many, other such antique terms. In an 

 excellent work on the French Pyrenees, by Eugene Trutat, he describes 

 the gold washings at Pamiers in the Comte de Foix, and gives the 

 following names of the tools employed by the washers : — 



The " andusa.^^ — " A shovel having the edges turned up at the sides, 

 by about 4 lines, 9^ inches long by 7^ inches wide, used for the 

 removal of large pebbles which usually cover the finest gravel." This 

 may be explained by the Celtic an fuis, the (piece) laminated, or 

 made thin." 



'■'' Balme.'" — "Finer part of the deposit intermingled with masses 

 of pebbles. "Bal = i?«//," in Irish, means a "speck," a "spot," 

 mi - a diminishing compound article ; so that " lalmi^'' would signify 

 a very fine speck (such as is usually presented by the gold as the result 

 of the washing). In the Cornish mines, where tin sands were usually 

 washed and separated by girls ; these were termed " lalgirls.'" 



The '■'■ grejfane^'' or '■'■ gressale^ — "A sort of wooden plate, 1 foot 

 6 inches to 1 foot 9 inches in diameter, hollowed out to 3 inches in 

 the centre for washing." 



" Slane or grilfaun," is the name given in Mayo to a form of spade 

 or shovel without wings. (There is still in use on the washing floors 

 of the Cornish mines a shovel of about the same dimensions, as men- 

 tioned for the " greffane," and used in the same way, for separating or 

 "panning " fine ore). The other word, ^^ gressale,'''' may be explained 

 by the Irish word '■^ gris'" = tremor, which very exactly explains or 

 describes its mode of action. 



The " scudelle " = " a small wooden bowl for receiving the black sand 

 and (accompanying) gold." The Celtic word '■'■ scotiiiV = " chosen," 

 " elect," explains sufficiently this term. 



It may be mentioned that in Spain there is still in use a tool called 

 a "/«?/«," a long two-pronged fork, used for tilKng ground, which 

 seems to correspond with the Irish " laye,'^ also still in usage. 



In the work cited (E. Trutat, " Les Pyrenees "), the author 

 d.escribes the Catalan forges still being worked in the mountains, par- 

 ticularly at Rancie (Arriege), and mentions in detail the ores and fuel 



